An Incident from the Life of Imām Aḥmad (May Allāh have mercy on him)

Abū ‘Abdullāh Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ḥanbal ibn Hilāl ibn Asad al-Shaibānī (May Allāh have mercy on him) was born in Rabī’ al-Awwal of the year 164 Hijrī and died the morning of Jum’ah on the 12th of Rabī’ al-Awwal, 241 Hijrī. He was buried in Baghdad.

During his life he traveled to Makkah, Madīnah, Syria, Yemen, Kufah, Basra, etc. He studied with Sufyan ibn ‘Uyainah, Ibrāhim ibn Sa’d, Yahya al-Qattān, Abdur-Razzāq, etc. Amongst those who narrate from him are his own teacher, Abdur-Razzāq, Yazīd ibn Hārūn, ‘Alī ibn al-Madīnī, Bukhārī, Muslim, Abū Dawūd, Ibn Abī al-Dunya, Baqī ibn Makhlad al-Andalusī, etc.

Al-Rabī’a ibn Sulaimān once mentioned that [Imām] Shāf’ī [May Allāh have mercy on him] said, “Aḥmad is an Imām in eight things: Hadith, Islamic jurisprudence, language, the Qurān, poverty, asceticism, piety, and the sunnah.”⁵⁵

One day Ali ibn Jahm told ‘Abdullāh ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal that he had had a neighbor who once pulled out a book and asked if we recognized the handwriting. We replied, “Yes, this is the handwriting of Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal. How did you end up with it?” He said, “We were in Makkah with Sufyān ibn ‘Uyainah and didn’t see Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal for a number of days. When we inquired about his whereabouts, the people told us that he was in such-and-such place. We went there and found a threadbare covering over the door. “O Abū ‘Abdullāh!” I called, “What’s going on? Why haven’t we seen you for days?” He replied [from inside], “My clothes were stolen.” I told him that I had some silver coins with me and that if he wished he could take it as a loan or a gift, but he refused to take it. I then asked if he would write something for me in exchange for a wage and he agreed.  I took out the silver coins but he refused to take them, saying, “Buy me a cloth and cut it in half,” indicating to me that he would use half as an iẓār and the other half as an upper garment. He also directed me to bring him whatever remained. I did as I was instructed, as well as bringing some pages. He wrote something for me and this is his handwriting.⁵⁶