The Life Of Ibn Hanbal by Ibn Al-Jawzi

[Ṣāliḥ:] My father would never let anyone else draw the water for his ablutions.

Whenever the bucket came up full, he would say, “Praise God!” 58.1

I asked him what the reason was.

“Son,” he replied, “haven’t you heard what God says? «Say, ‘Have you considered if your water were to sink into the ground, who could then bring you flowing water?’»”298

[ʿAbd Allāh:] My father used to pray three hundred cycles every twenty-four hours. After he was flogged he could no longer manage so many, so he started doing only 150. At that time he was nearly eighty. Every day he’d read a seventh of the Qurʾan, finishing it all in a week, and so every seven nights he’d have completed a full reading of the Qurʾan in addition to the ritual prayers he’d performed during the daytime. When he’d finish the evening prayer he’d take a nap then pray until morning. 58.2

[Ibn al-Shāfiʿī:] Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal once told me, “Your father is one of the six people I pray for just before dawn.”299 58.3

[Yūsuf ibn al-Ḥusayn:] Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal once asked me about the elders of Rey.

“How is Abū Zurʿah, may God protect him?” 58.4

“He’s well,” I said.

He said: “There are five people I pray for at the end of every prayer.” He told me who they were: his parents, al-Shāfiʿī, Abū Zurʿah, and one more whose name I’ve forgotten.

[Hilāl ibn al-ʿAlāʾ:] Al-Shāfiʿī, Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn, and Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal went to Mecca. As soon as they reached the place where they were staying, al-Shāfiʿī lay down to rest and so did Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn. Aḥmad, on the other hand, stayed up to pray. 58.5

The next morning al-Shāfiʿī said, “I’ve worked out a hundred legal problems for us Muslims.” “What did you do?” they asked Yaḥyā.

“I’ve refuted a hundred lies told of the Prophet.” “What about you?” they asked Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal.

“I prayed two cycles and recited the entire Qurʾan.”300

[Ibn Abī Hāshim:] I heard Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal say, “I’ve read through the whole Qurʾan in a day and counted how many times the word ‘fortitude’ comes up. It’s over ninety.”301 58.6

[Ṣāliḥ:] My father had a cap he had sewed himself, lined with cotton. When he stayed up at night to pray he would wear it. I often used to hear him reciting the Chapter of the Cave.302 58.7

[Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Abī ʿAbd Allāh:] When Aḥmad was on the run from the authorities, he hid in the house of Ibrāhīm ibn Hāniʾ. I heard Ibrāhīm report that he never saw anyone deny himself so much, pray as earnestly, or push himself as hard as Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal. 58.8

“He would fast all day,” he recalled, “and then have a quick meal. After evening prayer he would do more cycles then take a nap. Then he would perform his ablutions and pray straight through until dawn. At dawn he’d pray a single witr cycle. That was his routine the whole time he stayed with me. He never let up for a single night. I couldn’t keep up with him. I never saw him break his fast, except one day when he had himself cupped and then ate something.” [Ibrāhīm ibn Shammās:] I knew Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal when he was a boy. Even then he’d stay up at night praying. 58.9

[ʿAbd Allāh:] After my father grew old, he pushed himself to read the Qurʾan more and more often and to pray more frequently between the noon and late afternoon prayers. Whenever I went into his room he would stop praying. Sometimes he would talk to me and sometimes he would sit quietly. If he was quiet, I’d leave him and he’d go back to his prayers. When he was in hiding, I remember seeing him spend most of the time reading the Qurʾan. 58.10

[Al-ʿIjlī:] The last time I saw Aḥmad, he came out and sat with me in an anteroom. 58.11

I said, “I remember there were some law questions you were thinking about. Have you reached any answers?” “This is the time to make haste,” he said, “to live by the law.” He continued in that vein until we rose to go.

[Al-Muʾaddib:] I saw Bishr ibn al-Ḥārith pray four cycles after the Friday prayer without breaking them up by doing the salutation after the first two. But I saw Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal pray six cycles after the Friday prayer and do the salutation after every two.303 58.12

[Abū Bakr ibn ʿAnbar:] One Friday I followed Ibn Ḥanbal to the mosque of al- Manṣūr. He stood by the Poets’ Cupola and started praying supererogatory prayers two cycles at a time. A beggar came and stood in front of him, and Aḥmad gestured at him angrily to go away. Then the beggar tried to pass in front of him, and we rushed over and pulled him aside.304 58.13

[ʿAbd Allāh:] When Abū Zurʿah came to Baghdad, he stayed with my father. He kept him so busy comparing reports and their transmissions305 that my father said at one point, “Today all I’ve prayed is the ritual prayers. I’ve let all this comparing with Abū Zurʿah take the place of the rest.”306 58.14

[Ibn Hāniʾ:] I went with Aḥmad to the Friday mosque and overheard him reading the Chapter of the Cave.307 58.15