The Life Of Ibn Hanbal by Ibn Al-Jawzi

[Ibn al-Sammāk:] I heard Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal say, “Letting people see your inkwell is showing off.”173 30.1

Al-Anṣārī said, “I think the Ibn al-Sammāk who reported this comment is Muḥammad ibn Bundār al-Sammāk al-Jarjarāʾī, who associated with Aḥmad.” [Al-Marrūdhī:] Someone once asked Ibn Ḥanbal what his people had done to become so well regarded. 30.2

“They’ve been truthful,” he said.

[Al-Marrūdhī:] After someone mentioned being truthful and earnest, Aḥmad said, “That’s what makes this group174 better than others.” 30.3

[Al-Marrūdhī:] I was with Aḥmad in Samarra for about four months. During that time he never stopped praying at night and reading the Qurʾan by day, but even when he finished a reading of the whole Qurʾan, he never let on. He did it all in secret. 30.4

[Abū Bakr ibn Muḥammad:] Aḥmad once ran into a man who had been dishonest with him. 30.5

“If you made things right,” he told him, “you wouldn’t have to be afraid of anyone.” I also heard him say, when he was asked what it meant to love others in God, that it meant loving them without thought of worldly gain.