The Life Of Ibn Hanbal by Ibn Al-Jawzi

[Ṣāliḥ:] Whenever someone said a prayer for my father, he would say, “Call no man blessed until his work is done.” 56.1

I often heard him say, “God save us! God save us!” I heard him report that he heard Yūnus ibn Muḥammad report that he heard Ḥammād ibn Zayd report that Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd claimed that Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab used to say, “God save us! God save us!” I also heard him report that he heard Zayd ibn al-Ḥubāb report that he heard ʿAyyāsh ibn ʿUqbah report that ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al- ʿAzīz often used to say, “God save us! God save us!” [ʿAbd Allāh:] All I want is to come out of this even, without winning or losing.295 56.2

[Al-Marrūdhī:] I brought Ibrāhīm al-Ḥuṣarī, who was a righteous man, to meet Aḥmad. Ibrāhīm told him that his mother had dreamed of him and said something about the Garden. “Brother,” said Aḥmad, “People used to say the same kind of thing about Sahl ibn Salāmah, but he went on to shed blood.”296 He added, “A believer should find joy in dreams but never trust them.” 56.3

[Muḥammad ibn Ḥāzim:] Once when I was at Aḥmad’s an elderly man came to see him. “Aḥmad,” he said, “I overheard some people talking about you and saying you were among the best.” Aḥmad ignored him. 56.4

[Al-Marrūdhī:] I once heard Aḥmad say, “I’m too fearful of God to eat or drink, and now I don’t want to eat at all.” 56.5

During his final illness, Aḥmad needed to urinate, and called for a basin. I brought one, and saw that his urine was bright red. When I showed ʿAbd al-Raḥmān the healer, he said, “That’s a man with innards torn apart by worry”—or “by sorrow.” [Al-Marrūdhī:] One morning I went in to see Aḥmad and asked him how he was. 56.6

“How can a man be,” he answered, “with his Lord imposing obligations, his Prophet demanding that he follow the sunnah, his two angels waiting for good deeds, his soul clamoring for what it wants, the Devil goading him to lust, the Angel of Death seeking his life, and his family asking for money?”