Virtues of the Imam Ahmad ibn Ḥanbal. Ibn al-Jawzi

ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥāfiẓ, who heard Sulaymān ibn Aḥmad report that he heard al-Haytham ibn Khalaf al-Dūrī report that he heard al-ʿAbbās ibn Muḥammad al-Dūrī report:

      [Al-ʿAbbās ibn Muḥammad:] One of my neighbors, a man named ʿAlī ibn Abī Ḥarārah, told me this story.

      “My mother had been unable to walk for almost twenty years. One day she said, ‘Go ask Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal to pray to God for me.’

      “I went to his house and knocked on the door. He was in the anteroom but he didn’t open up.

      “‘Who is it?’ he called out.

      “I told him I lived in the neighborhood and my mother was an invalid who couldn’t walk and wanted him to pray for her. Through the door came an angry reply: ‘She’s the one who should be praying for me!’

      “I turned away. As I was leaving an old woman came out of the house and said, ‘Are you the one who was talking to Abū ʿAbd Allāh?’

      “‘Yes.’

      “‘I just heard him praying for her.’

      “I rushed home. When I knocked on the door, my mother came out walking on her own two feet to open it, saying, ‘God cured me!’”

      ٥،٦١

61.5

      أخبرنا محمّد بن أبي منصور قال: أخبرنا عبد القادر بن محمّد قال: أنبأنا إبراهيم بن عمر قال: أنبأنا عبد العزيز بن جعفر قال: حدثنا أبو بكر أحمد بن محمّد الخلّال قال: حدثنا محمّد بن هارون بن مَكْرَم الصفّار قال:

      حدثني إبراهيم بن هانئ قال: حدثني فلان النسّاج ساكن لأبي عبد الله قال: كنتُ أشتكي فكنت أئنّ بالليل فخرج أبو عبد الله في جوف الليل فقال: من هذا عندكم يشتكي؟

      فقيل له فلان، فدعا لي^١ وقال: اللهمَّ اشفِه. ودخل فكأنّه كان نارًا صُبّ عليه ماء.

      ١ د: له.

      We cite Muḥammad ibn Abī Manṣūr, who cites ʿAbd al-Qādir ibn Muḥammad, who was informed by Ibrāhīm ibn ʿUmar, who was informed by ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Jaʿfar, who heard Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Khallāl report that he heard Muḥammad ibn Hārūn ibn Makram al-Ṣaffār report that he heard Ibrāhīm ibn Hāniʾ report:

      [Ibrāhīm ibn Hāniʾ]: So-and-So the weaver, who rented from Abū ʿAbd Allāh, told me: “Once when I was sick I kept moaning all night. In the middle of the night Aḥmad came out and said, ‘Who’s that in pain over there?’

      “They told him, and he prayed for me. ‘God, cure him!’ he said, and went back inside. The pain suddenly stopped, as if someone had poured water on a fire.”

      ٦،٦١

61.6

      أخبرنا محمّد بن أبي منصور قال: أنبأنا الحسن بن أحمد الفقيه قال: أخبرنا أبو القاسم عبد العزيز بن محمّد قال: حدثنا أبو بكر^١ بن شاذان قال: حدثنا أبو عيسى أحمد بن يعقوب قال:

      حدثتني فاطمة بنت أحمد بن حنبل قالت: وقع الحريق في بيت أخي صالح وكان قد تزوّج إلى^٢ قوم مياسير فحملوا إليه جهازًا شبيهًا بأربعة آلاف دينار فأكلتْه النار فجعل صالح يقول: ما غمّني ما ذهب منّي إلا ثوب لأبي كان يصلّي فيه أتبرّك به وأُصلّي فيه.

      ١ أبو بكر: ليس في هـ. ٢ من هنا إلى لفظة (يا هذا اتَّقِ الله) في ٥،٦٨ ناقص في الصورة الضوئية لـ هـ .

      We cite Muḥammad ibn Abī Manṣūr, who was informed by al-Ḥasan ibn Aḥmad al-Faqīh, who cites Abū l-Qāsim ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Muḥammad, who heard Abū Bakr ibn Shādhān report that he heard Abū ʿĪsā Aḥmad ibn Yaʿqūb report that he heard Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal’s daughter Fāṭimah report:

      [Fāṭimah:] My brother Ṣāliḥ had a fire in his house. He’d married into a wealthy family who sent over a dowry that looked like it was worth four thousand dirhams, but all of it went up in smoke. Ṣāliḥ said, “All I care about is losing the robe that my father used to wear when he prayed. I liked to put it on for a blessing and pray in it.”

      When the fire was put out, they went back in. On the bed they found the robe. Everything around it had burned up but the robe was unharmed.

      ٧،٦١

61.7

      قالت: فطفئ الحريق ودخلوا فوجدوا الثوب على سرير قد أكلت النار ما حواليه والثوب سليم.

      قلت: وهكذا بلغني عن قاضي القضاة عليّ بن الحسين الزَّيْنبي أنه حكى أن الحريق وقع في دارهم فاحترق ما فيها إلا كتاب كان فيه شيء بخطّ أحمد.

      قلتُ: ولما وقع الغرق ببغداد في سنة أربع وخمسين وخمس مائة وغرقت كتبي سلِم لي مجلّد فيه ورقتان بخطّ الإمام أحمد.

      [The author:] I heard a similar story from the chief judge, ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Zaynabī. He had a fire and everything in the house burned up except a book that had some of Aḥmad’s writing in it.

      As for myself, when Baghdad was flooded in 554 [1159–60] and my books were ruined, one thing that was spared was a volume containing two sheets in Aḥmad’s handwriting.

      ٨،٦١

61.8

      أنبأنا يحيى بن الحسن قال: أنبأنا محمّد بن الحسين قال: أخبرنا أبو الحسن عليّ بن محمّد الحِنّائي قال: أخبرنا أبو محمّد عبد الله بن محمّد قال: أخبرنا أبو بكر محمّد بن عيسى قال: حدثنا العباس قال:

      وحدثني اللَّكّاف قال: حدثني عبد الله بن موسى وكان من أهل السنّة