[ʿAbd Allāh:] Mahaifina ya yi aikin Hajji sau biyar: sau uku a ƙafa, sau biyu kuma a kan abin hawa. A wasu daga cikinsu bai kashe fiye da dirhami ashirin kawai ba. 59.1

[ʿAbd Allāh:] My father made five pilgrimages: three on foot and two riding. On some of them he spent only twenty dirhams. 59.1

Ṣāliḥ: Na ji babana yana cewa, "Na yi aikin Hajji sau biyar, uku daga cikinsu a ƙafa. A ɗaya daga cikinsu na kashe dirhami talatin kawai." 59.2

[Ṣāliḥ:] I heard my father say, “I made five pilgrimages, three of them on foot. On one of them I spent only thirty dirhams.” 59.2

[Al-Marrūdhī:] Aḥmad ya taba faɗa mini, "Wasu mutane suna iya komawa daga Makka zuwa Baghdad da dirhami goma sha huɗu kawai." 59.3

[Al-Marrūdhī:] Aḥmad once said to me, “Some people can make it from Mecca back to Baghdad on only fourteen dirhams.” 59.3

"Wane ne?" na tambaya.

“Like who?” I asked.

"Ni." [ʿAbd Allāh:] A cikin falon gidanmu akwai wani benci. Idan mahaifina yana da baƙo da yake so ya zauna da shi a keɓe, sai ya ba shi wurin zama a kan benci. Ga sauran masu ziyara kuma, sai ya tsaya a bakin ƙofa, yana riƙe da hannayensa a kan firam ɗin ƙofar, yana magana daga can. Wata rana wani mutum ya zo gidan ya ce, "Ka faɗa wa mahaifinka cewa Abū Ibrāhīm mai yawo ne." 59.4

“Me.” [ʿAbd Allāh:] In the anteroom of our house was a bench. When my father had a visitor he wanted to sit with privately, he would offer him a seat on the bench. With other callers, he would stand in the doorway with his hands on the doorposts and talk from there. One day a man came to the house and said, “Tell your father it’s Abū Ibrāhīm the Wanderer.” 59.4

Su biyun suka zauna a kan benci.

The two of them sat down on the bench.

“Ka gaisa wani babban Musulmi,” mahaifina ya ce mini (ko kuma, “ɗaya daga cikin mafi kyawun Musulmi”). Sai na gai da shi. Sannan mahaifina ya ce, “Ka yi mana magana, Abū Ibrāhīm.” “Ina wucewa ta wani wuri kaza-da-kaza,” ya ce, “kusa da gidan ibada na can, sai na kamu da rashin lafiya har ban iya tafiya ba. Na tuna cewa in da na kusanci gidan ibadar, wani daga cikin malaman addinin Kiristanci zai iya warkar da ni. Nan take wani babban zaki ya bayyana, ya zo wajena, ya ɗauke ni a bisa bayansa a hankali har muka isa gidan ibadar, inda ya sauke ni. Lokacin da malaman addinin suka ga na iso a bisa bayan zaki, dukansu ɗari huɗu suka karɓi Musulunci.”

“Say hello to a great Muslim,” my father told me (or “one of the best of the Muslims”). So I said hello. Then my father said, “Talk to us, Abū Ibrāhīm.” “I was passing through Such-and-Such a place,” he said, “near the monastery there, when I got too sick to walk. I remember thinking that if I were closer to the monastery one of the monks might treat me. Suddenly a great lion appeared, walked up to me, and carried me along gently on its back until we reached the monastery, where it let me down. When the monks saw me arrive on the back of a lion, all four hundred of them embraced Islam.

"Yanzu kuma kana magana da ni, Abū ʿAbd Allāh!" "Kwana huɗu ko biyar kafin aikin hajji," in ji mahaifina, "na yi mafarki game da Manzon Allah ﷺ. Ya ce, 'Aḥmad, ka yi aikin hajji.' Sai na farka. Duk lokacin da na shirya tafiya, sai in sa wani gurasa da aka murje a cikin jaka. Haka na yi."

“Now you talk to me, Abū ʿAbd Allāh!” “Four or five nights before the pilgrimage,” said my father, “I dreamed of the Prophet, God bless and keep him. He said, ‘Aḥmad, make the pilgrimage.’ Then I woke up. Whenever I prepare to travel, I put some crumbled bread in a bag. So I did that.

Washegari da safe na tashi zuwa Kufa, na isa can a ranar. A masallacin Juma'a, na haɗu da wani saurayi kyakkyawa mai ƙamshi mai daɗi. Na gaishe shi, sannan na ce "Allahu Akbar" don fara sallah ta. Da na gama, na tambaye shi ko akwai wanda har yanzu yake tafiya aikin Hajji. Ya ce in jira har sai ɗaya daga cikin 'yan'uwansa ya zo. Da ya zo, sai ya zama mutum ne a cikin halin da nake ciki. Yayin da muke tafiya, ya tambayi saurayin ko za a ɗauke mu.308

The next morning, I started for Kufa, and got there later the same day. In the Friday mosque, I met a handsome young man with a pleasant scent. I greeted him and then said ‘God is great’ to begin my prayer. When I finished I asked him whether anyone was still leaving for the pilgrimage. He told me to wait until one of his brethren came along. When he came, he turned out to be a man in the same situation as I was. As we walked along, he asked the young man if we would be carried.308

“‘Idan Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal yana tare da mu,’ in ji saurayin, ‘to, za mu yi.’ A wannan lokaci na fahimci cewa shi al-Khaḍir ne. Sai na tambayi mutumin da yake tare da ni ko yana son wani abin ci.”

“‘If Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal is with us,’ said the young man, ‘then we will.’ “At that moment I realized that he was al-Khaḍir. Then I asked the man with me if he wanted something to eat.

"Ku ci abincinku, ku ci nawa," ya ce, "ni kuma zan ci nawa." Duk lokacin da muka ci abinci, saurayin zai ɓace, sannan ya dawo idan mun gama. Bayan kwana uku, muka isa Makka.309

“‘Go ahead and eat your sort of food,’ he said, ‘and I’ll eat mine.’ “Whenever we ate, the young man would disappear then return when we were done. Three days later we were in Mecca.”309