[عبد الله:] ذات مرة رأيت والدي يهدد بعض النمل ويأمرهم أن يغادروا بيته. فغادروا في كتلة سوداء كبيرة ولم يعودوا أبدًا. 61.1

[ʿAbd Allāh:] Once I saw my father threaten some ants and ask them to leave his house. They left in a great dark mass and never returned. 61.1

[محمد بن علي السمسار:] ذات ليلة ذهب أحمد إلى بيت صالح لأن ابن صالح كان ينزف الدم من أنفه. كان الأطباء قد جاءوا وكانوا يعالجونه بالسنط وغيره، لكن الدم كان يسيل بسرعة كبيرة. 61.2

[Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī l-Simsār:] One night Aḥmad went over to Ṣaliḥ’s house because Ṣaliḥ’s son was bleeding from the nose. The doctors313 had come and were treating him with acacia and so on,314 but the blood was coming too fast. 61.2

«مَا الْأَمْرُ يَا بُنَيَّ؟» قَالَ أَحْمَدُ.

“What’s wrong, son?” said Aḥmad.

"جدّي، سأموت!" قال الصبي. "ادعُ الله لي." قال أحمد: "ستكون بخير." ثم حرّك يده كأنه يدعو له، فتوقّف النزيف. وكان ذلك بعدما يئس الجميع من الصبي، لأنه كان ينزف باستمرار.

“Grandpa, I’m going to die!” said the boy. “Call to God for me.” “You’ll be all right,” said Aḥmad. He moved a hand as if praying for him and the blood stopped. This was after everyone had given the boy up for dead, since he had been bleeding continuously.

[أبو طالب:] كنتُ مرةً أكتبُ إملاءً عن أحمد، فانكسر قلمي، فأعطاني قلمًا من قلمه. ثم أريتُه لأبي علي الجعفري، وقلتُ له إنه قلمٌ أعطانيه أحمد. فقال لغلامه: "خذه وضعْه على النخلة، لنرى هل يُلقِّحها." 61.3

[Abū Ṭālib:] Once I was taking dictation from Aḥmad and my pen snapped. He gave me one of his own. Later I showed it to Abū ʿAlī l-Jaʿfarī, telling him that it was a pen that Aḥmad had given me. “Take it,” he told his serving boy, “and lay it on the palm tree: let’s see if that will fertilize it.” 61.3

فَفَعَلَ الصَّبِيُّ مَا طُلِبَ مِنْهُ، فَأَثْمَرَتِ الشَّجَرَةُ.

The boy did as he was asked and the tree grew fruit.

[العباس بن محمد:] حدثني أحد جيراني، رجل يُدعى علي بن أبي حرارة، بهذه القصة. 614

[Al-ʿAbbās ibn Muḥammad:] One of my neighbors, a man named ʿAlī ibn Abī Ḥarārah, told me this story. 61.4

"كانت أمي لا تستطيع المشي منذ ما يقارب عشرين عامًا. وذات يوم قالت: «اذهب واسأل أحمد بن حنبل أن يدعو الله لي». فذهبت إلى بيته وطرقت الباب. كان في الدهليز لكنه لم يفتح لي."

“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.

«مَنْ هٰذَا؟» نَادَى.

“‘Who is it?’ he called out.

"قلتُ له: إني أسكن في الحيّ، وأمي عليلة لا تستطيع المشي، وتريد أن تدعو لها. فجاء من خلف الباب ردٌّ غاضب: «بل هي التي ينبغي أن تدعو لي!». فانصرفتُ. وبينما أنا خارج، خرجت من البيت امرأةٌ عجوز، فقالت: «أأنت الذي كان يكلّم أبا عبد الله؟». قلت: «نعم». قالت: «لقد سمعتُه الآن يدعو لها». فأسرعتُ إلى البيت، ولما طرقتُ الباب خرجت أمي تمشي على قدميها لتفتح، وهي تقول: «شفاني الله!»". [إبراهيم بن هانئ]: حدّثني فلانٌ الحائك، وكان يكري من أبي عبد الله، قال: «مرضتُ مرةً، فكنتُ أئنّ طوال الليل. وفي منتصف الليل خرج أحمد وقال: من ذاك الذي يتألم هناك؟». 61.5

“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!’” [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?’ 61.5

فَقَالُوا لَهُ، فَدَعَا لِي، فَقَالَ: «اللَّهُمَّ اشْفِهِ»، ثُمَّ رَجَعَ إِلَى الدَّاخِلِ، فَانْقَطَعَ عَنِّي الأَلَمُ فَجْأَةً، كَأَنَّمَا صُبَّ عَلَى نَارٍ مَاءٌ. [فَاطِمَةُ:] كَانَتْ نَارٌ قَدِ اشْتَعَلَتْ فِي بَيْتِ أَخِي صَالِحٍ. كَانَ قَدْ تَزَوَّجَ مِنْ أُسْرَةٍ ثَرِيَّةٍ، فَأَرْسَلُوا إِلَيْهِ مَهْرًا يَبْدُو أَنَّ قِيمَتَهُ أَرْبَعَةُ آلَافِ دِرْهَمٍ، لَكِنَّ كُلَّهُ احْتَرَقَ وَصَارَ رَمَادًا. فَقَالَ صَالِحٌ: «كُلُّ مَا يُهِمُّنِي أَنْ أَفْقِدَ الجُبَّةَ الَّتِي كَانَ أَبِي يَلْبَسُهَا عِنْدَ الصَّلَاةِ، كُنْتُ أُحِبُّ أَنْ أَلْبَسَهَا تَبَرُّكًا وَأُصَلِّيَ فِيهَا». 61.6

“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.” [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.” 61.6

فَلَمَّا خَمَدَتِ النَّارُ رَجَعُوا فِيهَا، فَوَجَدُوا عَلَى السَّرِيرِ الْجُبَّةَ.

When the fire was put out, they went back in. On the bed they found the robe.

كل ما كان حوله قد احترق، لكن الثوب بقي سليماً لم يُصِبْه أذى.

Everything around it had burned up but the robe was unharmed.

[المؤلف:] وسمعتُ قصةً مشابهةً من قاضي القضاة، عليِّ بنِ الحسينِ الزينبيِّ. اندلعت في بيتِه نارٌ فاحترق كلُّ شيءٍ فيه إلا كتاباً كان فيه بعضُ كتاباتِ أحمدَ. 61.7

[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. 61.7

أَمَّا أَنَا، فَلَمَّا غُمِرَتْ بَغْدَادُ بِالْفَيَضَانِ سَنَةَ 554هـ [1159–1160م] وَتَلِفَتْ كُتُبِي، فَإِنَّ مِمَّا نَجَا مِنَ الْهَلَاكِ مُجَلَّدٌ يَحْتَوِي عَلَى وَرَقَتَيْنِ بِخَطِّ أَحْمَدَ.

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.

[اللَّكَّاف:] قال لي عبد الله بن موسى، وكان سنيًّا صالحًا: «في ليلة مظلمة خرجتُ أنا وأبي لزيارة أحمد، فأظلمت الطريق حتى لم نعد نرى شيئًا. فقال أبي: لندعُ الله، متوسلين بعبده الصالح أحمد، ونسأله أن ينير لنا الطريق. فإنه منذ ثلاثين سنة، كل ما سألتُ الله به باسمه قد أُعطيته.» فدعا أبي، وقلتُ أنا: آمين. فأضاءت السماء كأنها ليلة قمراء، وبقيت كذلك حتى وصلنا. ﴿61﴾8

[Al-Lakkāf:] ʿAbd Allāh ibn Mūsā, who was a good Sunni, told me: “One dark night, my father and I went out to visit Aḥmad, but it got too dark to see. My father said, ‘Let’s call on God, invoking His righteous servant Aḥmad, and ask Him to light our way. For thirty years, everything I’ve asked for in his name has been granted.’ My father prayed and I said ‘Amen.’ The sky lit up as if it were a moonlit night and stayed that way until we arrived.” 61.8

[الرازي:] صحبَنا جماعةٌ منّا أحمدَ بن حنبل حتى بلغنا باب المتوكّل. فدخل من باب الخاصّة، وقبل أن يدخل قال: «ارجعوا كلُّكم الآن. حفظكم الله بالصحة!» 61.9

[Al-Rāzī:] A group of us accompanied Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal as far as al- Mutawakkil’s gate. He was admitted at the Intimates’ Gate, but before going in, he said, “All of you can go back now. May God keep you in health!” 61.9

منذ ذلك اليوم، لم يمرض أحدٌ منا.

Since that day, not one of us has fallen ill.