The Life of Ibn Ḥanbal. Ibn al-Jawzi

       CHAPTER 1

      IBN ḤANBAL’S BIRTH AND FAMILY BACKGROUND

      We cite ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Abī l-Qāsim al-Karūkhī, who cites ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad al-Anṣārī, who cites Abū Yaʿqūb al-Ḥāfiẓ, who cites Abū Bakr ibn Abī l-Faḍl al-Muʿaddal,2 who learned it from Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Ṣarrām; and3 we cite ʿAbd al-Malik, who cites ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad, who cites Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Mihrawī,4 who learned it from Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb, the notary-witness of Būshanj, who learned it from Muḥammad ibn al-Ṭayyib ibn al-ʿAbbās, who [along with al-Ṣarrām] cites Ibrāhīm ibn Isḥāq al-Ghasīlī as saying: 1.1

      [Al-Ghasīlī:] I heard Aḥmad’s son Ṣāliḥ say that he—meaning his father—was born in Rabīʿ I 164 [November–December 780], having left Marv⁵ carried in his mother’s womb.

      [Aḥmad:] I was born in Rabīʿ I 164. 1.2

      [Aḥmad:] I was born in the year 164. 1.3

      [Al-ʿIjlī:] Aḥmad son of Muḥammad son of Ḥanbal, called Abū ʿAbd Allāh (the father of ʿAbd Allāh), was a full-blooded member of the clan of Sadūs.⁶ The family had settled first in Basra and later in Khurasan,⁷ but Aḥmad was born and raised in Baghdad. He was trustworthy and reliable as a transmitter of Hadith reports, and was skilled in using them as a source of law. He sought out reports about the early Muslims and lived according to their example. He was a good and honorable man. 1.4

      [Aḥmad:] My mother was pregnant with me when she came from Khurasan.⁸ I was born in 164. 1.5

      [Abū Zurʿah:] Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal’s family came from Basra but their district of settlement was Marv. 1.6

      [Ṣāliḥ:]