The Life Of Ibn Hanbal by Ibn Al-Jawzi

Among the prominent men of learning who capitulated were ʿAlī ibn al-Jaʿd; Ismāʿīl ibn Ibrāhīm ibn ʿUlayyah;457 Saʿīd ibn Sulaymān al-Wāsiṭī, known as Saʿduwayh; Isḥāq ibn Abī Isrāʾīl; Abū Ḥassān al-Ziyādī; Bishr ibn al-Walīd; ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿUmar al-Qawārīrī; ʿAlī ibn Abī Muqātil; al-Faḍl ibn Ghānim; al-Ḥasan ibn Ḥammād Sajjadah; Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Masʿūd; Muḥammad ibn Saʿd, scribe to al-Wāqidī; Aḥmad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Dawraqī; Ismāʿīl ibn Dāwūd al-Jawzī; Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn; ʿAlī ibn al- Madīnī; Abū Khaythamah Zuhayr ibn Ḥarb; Abū Naṣr al-Tammār; and Abū Kurayb. 76.1

The capitulations that were hardest for Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal to bear were those of Abū Naṣr al-Tammār, Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn, and Abū Khaythamah. He had a high opinion of them all and did not expect any of them to give in as quickly as they did. Abū Naṣr al-Tammār was a Worshipper who heard Hadith from Mālik, the two Ḥammāds, and many others, but was unable to withstand the Inquisition and caved in. Aḥmad consequently held that one should not write down the reports he transmitted, and refused to pray over him when he died. 76.2

[Abū Ḥafṣ:] The day Abū Naṣr al-Tammār was taken in for questioning by Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm, Bishr asked me to find out what happened. When I told him that al- Tammār had capitulated, he recited «We are of God, and to Him we return!»458 several times, then said, “How beautiful that beard of his would have been if he had dyed it”— meaning with blood—“and resisted until death.” 76.3

[ʿUbayd Allāh:] Abū Maʿmar al-Qaṭīʿī was such a fervent adherent of the sunnah that he used to say, “If my mule could talk, she’d say she was a Sunni.” 76.4

But then when he was put to the test, he gave in. After he was released he said, “We denied our faith and they let us go.” [Ibn ʿAskar:] After Saʿduwayh was called in, I saw him come out of the emir’s residence and say, “Boy, bring the donkey. Your master has denied his faith!” 76.5

[The author:] I say: Saʿduwayh is Saʿīd ibn Sulaymān Abū ʿUthmān al-Wāsiṭī, known as Saʿduwayh. He recited Hadith citing Ibn Saʿd and others and performed the pilgrimage sixty times.

[Al-ʿIjlī:] After his interrogation, Saʿduwayh was asked what he had done.

“We denied our faith and they let us go,” he said. 76.6