'Ya'yan Aḥmad sun ruwaito cewa mutane da yawa, ciki har da wasu mutanen kirki waɗanda suka ɓoye sunayensu, sun zo don yi musu ta'aziyya. Ba tare da ɓata lokaci mai yawa a kan wannan batu ba, zan gabatar da wasu daga cikin shahararrun labaran. 89.1

Aḥmad’s children reported that many people, including certain righteous men who had kept their identities a secret, came to offer their condolences. Without spending too much time on the subject, I will present a few of the more famous accounts. 89.1

[Ibn Abī Ḥātim:] Mun ji Ṣāliḥ ɗan Aḥmad yana ruwaya: 89.2

[Ibn Abī Ḥātim:] We heard Aḥmad’s son Ṣāliḥ report: 89.2

Bayan 'yan kwanaki bayan mahaifina ya rasu, Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṭāhir ya karɓi wasiƙa daga al-Mutawakkil yana umurtarsa ya kai mana ziyarar ta'aziyya kuma ya kwashe littattafan. Amma sai na fara tattara littattafan, na ce masa, "Duk rahotannin da muka taɓa ji suna cikin nan. Idan kana so, ka zauna a nan ka kwafe su."482

A few days after my father died, Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṭāhir received a letter from al-Mutawakkil ordering him to pay us a visit of condolence and to carry off the books. But I gathered up the books first and told him, “All of the reports we’ve ever heard are in here. If you want them, stay here and copy them.”482

"Zan gaya wa halifa," ya ce.

“I’ll tell the caliph,” he said.

[Ibn Abī Ḥātim:] Ṣāliḥ ya ci gaba da jinkirta shi, littattafan kuma suka ci gaba da zama a hannunmu, Alhamdulillah! [Ṣāliḥ:] Wani abokina ya rubuta mini wannan wasiƙar ta'aziyya: 89.3

[Ibn Abī Ḥātim:] Ṣāliḥ kept putting him off and the books stayed in our hands, thank God! [Ṣāliḥ:] One of my friends wrote me this letter of condolence: 89.3

Da sunan Allah, Mai rahama, Mai jin ƙai. Allah, Mai rahama mara iyaka, Mai girma da ɗaukaka, ya ƙaddara cewa mutuwa za ta riski mutane ba tare da bambanci ba, tana hukunta halittunsa da ajali ƙayyadadde, har sai ƙaddara ta zo ta karɓe su duka. Yanzu ya miƙa wuya ga ƙaddarar Allah Abū ʿAbd Allāh — Allah ya yi masa rahama! — wanda Allah ya kira zuwa gare Shi. Yana karɓar maraba ta Allah da zuciya mai yarda, ya zo ba shi da aibi kamar kullum, tsararre, kuma ba shi da tabo, mai ƙarfi a kan sunna, marar kuskure, mai shiryarwa zuwa hanya madaidaiciya, ba ya karkata daga tafarkin shiriya ta alheri, ba ya kaɗawa da son zuciya, kuma jarumi a cikin wahala, har Allah ya kusantar da shi zuwa gare Shi. Bari kowa ya yi marmarin alherin da ya samu; kuma ko da yake rashinsa yana jefa baƙin ciki mai zafi wanda ke huda zuciya, ina jajanta maka da duk wani Musulmi da zai karanta wannan wasiƙa, ta hanyar tunatar da kai albarkoki, rahama, da alamomin Allah da aka yi wa alkawari ga waɗanda suke yin tunani sosai, suke haƙuri ƙwarai, kuma suke miƙa wuya da kyakkyawar zuciya ga ƙaddarar da Allah ya ƙayyade ga dukkan abin da ya halitta. Ina tunatar da kai cewa ya bar mu ta hanya mafi kyau da ake iya samu: a kasance cikin tunani, da amincewa da shiriyar Allah, kuma ba tare da girgiza ba a cikin jarumtakarsa da ƙudurinsa. Duniya ta bi shi amma ya ƙi ta, kuma bai karɓi wani zargi ba lokacin da ya tsaya don Allah; rasuwarsa ta bar tabo mai tsaga a zuciyar Musulunci.

In the name of God, full of compassion, ever-compassionate God, mighty and glorious, has decreed that death deal impartially with humankind, dooming His creatures to a finite span until fate comes to claim them all. Bowing now to God’s decree is Abū ʿAbd Allāh—may God have mercy on him!—whom He has summoned to Himself. Accepting God’s welcome with a willing heart, he came faultless as always, unsullied, and immaculate, firm in tradition, inerrant, and guiding aright, unswerving from the path of good guidance, unswayed by caprice, and dauntless in adversity, until God drew him close to Himself. Let all aspire to the grace that he has gained; and though losing him brings a wrenching grief that bites deep into the heart, and I console you and any other Muslim who reads this letter by reminding you of God’s promised blessings, mercies, and signs vouchsafed to those who ponder well, suffer long, and submit with good grace to the fate God has decreed for all things He has made. I remind you that he left us in the best possible way: present in mind, confident of God’s guidance, and unshaken in his courage and resolve. The world pursued him but he spurned it, and he brooked no rebuke when he stood up for God; his passing leaves a ragged scar on the heart of Islam.

Ina roƙon Allah, Mai yalwar falala, da ya yi salati ga Muhammadu, bawansa kuma Manzonsa; kuma ya ba Ahmadu lada wanda ba zai gaza ladan kowane daga cikin abokan da ya halitta domin bautarsa ba. Allah ya ɗaukaka darajarsa, ya ƙara masa daraja, ya sanya shi tare da annabawa, masu gaskiya, shahidai, da salihai—abokan zama masu kyau! Ina roƙon Allah ya ba ku ƙarfi, da ladan da aka yi alkawarinsa ga masu ƙarfi; kuma ya ba ku wannan yakini wanda ke kawo ladan da aka yi alkawarinsa ga waɗanda suke rayuwa bisa imaninsu. Ina roƙonsa—gama shi ne tushen dukkan albarka, mai rarraba dukkan alheri, kuma Wanda babu abin da ya gagare shi.

I pray to God, who gives freely of His bounty, to bless Muḥammad, His servant and Emissary; and to grant Aḥmad no lesser reward than that He grants to any of the allies He has created to serve Him. May He raise him in rank, exalt him in standing, and seat him among the prophets, the truth-tellers, the martyrs, and the saints—goodly companions all! I ask God to give you strength, and the reward promised to the strong; and grant you that certainty that confers the reward promised to those who live out their faith. I ask Him, for He is the fount of all blessing, the dispenser of all good things, and the One for whom nothing is impossible.

[Al-Ṣūfī:] A daren da muka binne Abū ʿAbd Allāh, wani daga cikin malamanmu—mutum mai kirki kuma mai ilimi, mai suna Abū Jaʿfar—ya tambaye ni, “Ka san wanda aka binne yau?” 89.4

[Al-Ṣūfī:] The night we buried Abū ʿAbd Allāh, one of our scholars—a kindly, learned man named Abū Jaʿfar—asked me, “Do you know who was buried today?” 89.4

"Wane?" "Na shida daga cikin biyar." "Me kake nufi?" "Na farko shi ne Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq," ya ce. "Na biyu kuwa ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb.

“Who?” “The sixth of five.” “What do you mean?” “The first is Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq,” he said. “The second was ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb.

ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān shi ne na uku, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib na huɗu, ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz na biyar, kuma yanzu muna da na shida: Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal.” Na yaba da maganarsa. Abin da yake nufi shi ne kowane daga cikin waɗannan mutane shi ne mafi girma a zamaninsa.

ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān was the third, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib the fourth, ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al- ʿAzīz the fifth, and now we have a sixth: Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal.” I appreciated his saying that. What he meant was that each man was the greatest in his own time.