[Al-Būshanjī:] Once when Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal was dictating for us, a man from Marv named Abū Yaʿqūb asked him about a Hadith. Aḥmad told his son ʿAbd Allāh to go inside and get the Book of Useful Points.155 ʿAbd Allāh brought it out and Aḥmad looked through it, but he couldn’t find the report he wanted. So he got up, left his mosque and went inside the house.156 A short time later, he came back carrying a stack of quires, sat down, and started looking through them. After a while, the man who had asked the question said, “Never mind, Aḥmad! This is too much trouble.” 26.1

“No it isn’t,” he replied. “It’s me who needs to know.” We realized that he had gone into the house and looked at every quire where he thought the report might be, and then—because he didn’t want to stay inside looking for the report—he had brought the papers out so that it wouldn’t seem as if he were putting himself to a lot of trouble. It’s hard to imagine a better example of courtesy.

[Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzī:] When I first met Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, in 213, I saw him go out to the ritual prayer carrying the Book of Belief 157 and the Book of Drinks.158 He finished praying and waited, but no one asked him a question so he took the books back with him. Another day, I saw that he had taken them out again. I suspect that his reason for having those particular books with him was that the Book of Belief provides the basis of religion and the Book of Drinks is about turning people away from bad things—since drunkenness is the root of all evil.159 26.2

[Al-Marrūdhī:] Aḥmad once had a visit from Abū l-ʿAlāʾ the Servant,160 who was a humble old man who went around with his sleeves and pant legs rolled up161 looking like a Qurʾan-reader. When he arrived at the gate of the mosque, Aḥmad came out to welcome him. 26.3

It so happened that there was also a stranger in the mosque: a man dressed in rags and carrying a writing kit. As he sat down, Aḥmad happened to look around. As soon as he noticed the stranger, he said to Abū l-ʿAlāʾ, “I wouldn’t want you to get caught outside in the heat,” and Abū l-ʿAlāʾ got up and left.

Then Aḥmad began looking over at the stranger expecting him to ask a question, but the man said nothing. Finally Aḥmad asked, “Can I help you?” “Teach me some of what God has taught you.” Aḥmad rose, went inside, and came back with some books. “Come over here,” he said, then began dictating Hadith to the man, stopping to say, “Read back what you’ve written down.”