Mun kasance da yawan girmamawa ga Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal har ba mu iya yin sabani da shi ko muhawara da shi a kan kowane abu ba. 36.1

[Muḥammad ibn Muslim:] We were too much in awe of Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal to disagree with him or argue with him about anything. 36.1

Wannan ya kasance saboda yadda yake da girma da tsoro, da kuma tsananin ibadarsa ga Musulunci da aka ba shi.194

This was because of how imposing he was, and how intimidating the devotion to Islam he had been blessed with.194

[Al-Marrūdhī:] Al-Ḥasan ibn Aḥmad, shugaban gadar, wanda ya zauna a unguwarmu, ya gaya mini, “Na haɗu da Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm, da Fulani, da Fulani”—dukansu mutane masu iko—“ammaban taɓa ganin wanda ya fi mamaye zuciya kamar Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal ba. Na taɓa zuwa wurinsa don magana kan wani abu, kuma da na gan shi kawai sai na girgiza.” 36.2

[Al-Marrūdhī:] Al-Ḥasan ibn Aḥmad, the superintendent of the bridge, who lived in my neighborhood, told me, “I’ve met Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm, and So-and-So, and Soand- So”—all of them men of authority—“but I never saw anyone as overpowering as Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal. I once went to talk to him about something, and the moment I saw him, I shuddered.” 36.2

Al-Kalbī, shugaban leƙen asiri, ya taɓa zuwa wajensa da dare, amma shi da mutanensa sun ji tsoro sosai don su ƙwanƙwasa ƙofarsa, sai suka ƙwanƙwasa ƙofar kawunsa maimakon haka. Aḥmad ya ce ya ji su suna ƙwanƙwasa, sai ya amsa.

Al-Kalbī, the chief of intelligence, once came to see him at night, but he and his men were too intimidated to knock on his door and so knocked on his uncle’s door instead. Aḥmad said that he heard them knocking and answered.

[ʿAbdūs:] Aḥmad ya taɓa ganina ina dariya. Har yanzu ina jin kunya game da hakan. 36.3

[ʿAbdūs:] Aḥmad once saw me laugh. I’m still embarrassed about it. 36.3

[Al-Qāsim ibn Sallām:] Na zauna da Abū Yūsuf, da Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan, da Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, da ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī, amma ban taɓa jin tsoro da girmamawa kamar yadda na ji lokacin da na zauna da Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal ba. Lokacin da yake kurkuku, na je na ziyarce shi.

[Al-Qāsim ibn Sallām:] I’ve sat with Abū Yūsuf, Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan, Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī, and I was never as intimidated as I was when I sat with Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal. When he was in prison, I went to visit him.

Wani ya yi mini tambaya, amma saboda Aḥmad na ji tsoron amsa ta. 36.4

Someone asked me a question but with Aḥmad there I was afraid to answer it. 36.4

Ibn Makram ya ƙara da cewa: "Na faɗa wa Ya'qūb ibn Shaybah wannan labari, sai ya ce, 'Wataƙila yana tsoron kada ya yi kuskure da Aḥmad a wurin.'"

Ibn Makram added: “I told Yaʿqūb ibn Shaybah this story, and he said, ‘He was probably afraid to make a mistake with Aḥmad there.’”