[Ṣāliḥ:] When Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṭāhir came to Baghdad, he sent a message to my father saying, “I’d like you to come and see me. Tell me the day you prefer and I’ll make sure there’s no one else here.” 74.1

My father replied, “I am a man who has never consorted with rulers. Furthermore, the Commander of the Faithful has exempted me from doing anything I detest. This I detest.” Muḥammad strove to change his mind but to no avail.

I then received a letter from Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh saying:

I went to see Ṭāhir ibn ʿAbd Allāh and he told me that Muḥammad had invited Aḥmad to call on him but Aḥmad had refused.

I said, “May God correct the emir! Aḥmad has vowed never to teach Hadith again.

Perhaps he was afraid that if he went, he would ask him to teach.” He asked, “Are you serious?” I said, “I am.” I told my father about this but he said nothing.

[The author:] I think Aḥmad refused to visit Ibn Ṭāhir because he was a ruler. He did visit people so long as they were men of piety and learning.

[ʿAbd Allāh:] After my father was released by the Inquisition, he was worried that Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh would come to see him so he decided to go see him first. No sooner had he reached Rey and gone into a mosque when the clouds opened like waterskins. He sheltered there until night fell and he was told to leave the mosque because they wanted to close it. 74.2

“This is a house of God,” he said, “and I’m a worshipper of God.” “Either leave,” they said, “or we’ll drag you out by the feet. Your choice.” My father continued the story:

“Good-bye,”451 I said, and went out into the thunderstorm with no idea where to go. Then a man came out of his house and said, “You there! Where are you going at a time like this?” “I have nowhere to go,” I said.

“Come in,” he said.

He brought me in, had me undress, and gave me dry clothes to change into. I performed my ablutions and then went into a room where there was a heater full of coals, a blanket of felt on the floor, and a laden table. The members of the family invited me to join them. After we ate, the man said, “Where are you from?” I told them I was from Baghdad.

“Do you know a man named Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal?” “I’m Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal.” “Well,” said the man, “I’m Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh.”452