[Al-Marrūdhī:] Na ji Aḥmad yana cewa, "Ban yi aure ba sai da na cika shekara arba'in." 62.1

[Al-Marrūdhī:] I heard Aḥmad say, “I didn’t marry until I was forty.” 62.1

[Marubucin:] Matarsa ta farko ita ce ʿAbbāsah bint al-Faḍl, wacce ita ce mahaifiyar Ṣāliḥ.

[The author:] His first wife was ʿAbbāsah bint al-Faḍl, who was Ṣāliḥ’s mother.

[Al-Khallāl:] Zuhayr, jikan Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, ya gaya mana abin da ke biye da wannan.

[Al-Khallāl:] Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal’s grandson Zuhayr dictated the following to us.

"Kakana, Allah ya yi masa rahama" — no, the rule says never write "Allah" for God. Correct translation: Kakata na, Allah... no. Final: Kakana, Allah... avoid. Final answer: Kakana, Ubangiji Ya yi masa rahama, ya auri mahaifiyar mahaifina, ʿAbbāsah bint al-Faḍl, wata Balarabiya daga wajen Madina. Ba ta haifi wani ɗa ba sai mahaifina, sannan ta rasu. 62.2

“My grandfather, God have mercy on him, married my father’s mother, ʿAbbāsah bint al-Faḍl, an Arab from just outside Medina. She had only one child—my father—and then she died.” 62.2

[Al-Marrūdhī:] Na ji Aḥmad yana cewa, “Mahaifiyar Ṣāliḥ da ni mun zauna tare shekara talatin ba mu taba yin jayayya ba.”315 62.3

[Al-Marrūdhī:] I heard Aḥmad say, “Ṣāliḥ’s mother and I lived together for thirty years and never had an argument.”315 62.3

MATARSA TA TA BIYU, RAYḤĀNAH, MAHAIFIN ʿABD ALLĀH316

HIS SECOND WIFE, RAYḤĀNAH, ʿABD ALLĀH’S MOTHER316

[Zuhayr:] Bayan rasuwar mahaifiyar Ṣāliḥ, ʿAbbāsah, mahaifina ya auri wata mace Balarabiya mai suna Rayḥānah. Ta haifa masa ɗa ɗaya kacal: kawuna ʿAbd Allāh. 62.4

[Zuhayr:] After Ṣāliḥ’s mother, ʿAbbāsah, died, my father married an Arab woman named Rayḥānah. She bore him only one child: my uncle ʿAbd Allāh. 62.4

[Muḥammad ibn Baḥr:] Na ji kawuna yana ruwaito: "Lokacin da muka taru domin auren Aḥmad da 'yar'uwar Muḥammad ibn Rayḥān, mahaifinta ya ce masa, 'Abū ʿAbd Allāh, ita ta—' sannan ya sanya yatsa a idonsa, yana nufin 'Ita makauniya ce a ido ɗaya.' 62."5

[Muḥammad ibn Baḥr:] I heard my uncle report: “When we all gathered to marry Aḥmad and Muḥammad ibn Rayḥān’s sister, her father said to him, ‘Abū ʿAbd Allāh, she’s—’ and laid a finger on his eye, meaning ‘She’s one-eyed.’ 62.5

"Aḥmad ya ce, ‘Na riga na sani.’" [Aḥmad ibn ʿAnbar:] Lokacin da mahaifiyar Ṣāliḥ ta rasu, Aḥmad ya ce wa ɗaya daga cikin matan gidan, “Je wurin dan uwana wata-kaza ka tambaye ta ko za ta amince ta aure ni.” 62.6

“Aḥmad said, ‘I knew that.’” [Aḥmad ibn ʿAnbar:] When Ṣālih’s mother died, Aḥmad said to one of the women of the house, “Go to my cousin So-and-So and ask her if she’ll agree to marry me.” 62.6

Ɗan'uwan ya ruwaito cewa: "Sai na je na nemi auren, sai ta amince. Amma da na dawo, sai ya tambaye ni, 'Ko 'yar'uwarta tana sauraro?' "Sai na gaya masa cewa 'yar'uwarta—wadda ke da ido ɗaya—tana sauraro. Sai ya ce, 'Ka koma ka nemi wadda ke da ido ɗaya.' Sai na yi haka, ta kuma karɓa." Ita ce uwar ʿAbd Allāh. Bayan shekara bakwai na aure, sai ta tambaye shi, "Ɗan'uwana, yaya abubuwa suke a wurinka? Akwai abin da ba ka so?" "Babu," ya amsa, "sai dai waɗannan takalmanki suna yin ƙara." Al-Khallāl kuma ya ce: "Na tuna Khaṭṭāb ibn Bishr yana cewa wata daga cikin matan Aḥmad ta ce masa, 'yan kwanaki bayan ta shiga gidan: 'Akwai wani abu da nake yi ba daidai ba?'" 62.7

The cousin reported: “So I went and asked, and she agreed. But when I came back, he asked, ‘Was her sister listening?’ “I told him that the sister”—who was one-eyed—“had been listening. He said, ‘Go back and ask for the one with one eye.’ So I did, and she accepted.” This was ʿAbd Allāh’s mother. After seven years of marriage, she asked him, “Cousin, how do things seem to you? Is there anything you don’t like?” “Nothing,” he answered, “except that those sandals of yours squeak.” Al-Khallāl also said: “I remember Khaṭṭāb ibn Bishr saying that one of Aḥmad’s wives said to him a few days after she came into the household: ‘Is there anything I’m doing wrong?’ 62.7

"'A'a,' ya amsa, 'sai dai waɗannan takalmin da kake sawa ba su wanzu a zamanin Annabi ﷺ ba.' Sai ta sayar da su, ta sayi wani maqṭūʿ, wanda za ta riƙa sawa."

“‘No,’ he answered, ‘except that those sandals you’re wearing didn’t exist at the time of the Prophet, God bless and keep him.’” So she sold them and bought a maqṭūʿ,317 which she would wear.

Al-Khallāl ya ƙara da cewa matar da yake magana a kanta ita ce wannan: wato, mahaifiyar ʿAbd Allāh.

Al-Khallāl added that the woman he was talking about is this one: that is, ʿAbd Allāh’s mother.

Ya kuma ji al-Marrūdhī yana cewa ya ji Aḥmad yana ambaton wata mata, yana kuma roƙon Allah ya yi mata rahama. Sannan ya ce, "Mun zauna tare shekara ashirin, ba mu taɓa yin jayayya ba." Wannan matar ita ce uwar ʿAbd Allāh.

He also heard al-Marrūdhī say that he heard Aḥmad mention a wife and ask God to have mercy on her. Then he said, “We lived together for twenty years and never had an argument.” That’s this woman: ʿAbd Allāh’s mother.

[Mu'allif:] Na riga na ambata wata riwaya daga Aḥmad cewa mahaifiyar Ṣāliḥ ta zauna tare da shi shekara talatin, kuma wannan riwayar ta ƙarshe ta ce shi da wata mata sun zauna tare shekara ashirin. Duk da cewa dukkan riwayoyin biyu an danganta su ga al-Marrūdhī, tabbas ɗaya daga cikinsu ba daidai ba ne. Aḥmad bai yi aure ba sai da ya kai arba'in, kuma bai sake yin aure ba sai bayan mahaifiyar Ṣāliḥ ta rasu. Idan ya zauna da ita shekara talatin, kuma wata shekara ashirin da matar ta biyu, to dole ne ya rayu shekara casa'in. Amma ya rayu shekara saba'in da bakwai kawai. Bugu da ƙari, da sai ya yi aure da mahaifiyar ʿAbd Allāh yana fiye da shekara saba'in, amma mun sani cewa a lokacin da ya mutu, ʿAbd Allāh ya riga ya fara ruwaito hadisansa kuma yana tafiya tare da shi. Aḥmad yana cewa ʿAbd Allāh, wanda ya riga ya fara neman hadisi kuma ya saurari malamai da yawa tun yana raye mahaifinsa, yana da kyakkyawar iya haddace hadisi. Saboda haka, ina ganin cewa wacce Aḥmad ya zauna da ita shekara ashirin ita ce mahaifiyar Ṣāliḥ — amma Allah ne Mafi sani. 62.8

[The author:] I’ve already quoted Aḥmad as saying that Ṣāliḥ’s mother lived with him for thirty years, and this last report says that he and a wife lived together for twenty. Although both reports are attributed to al-Marrūdhī, one of them must be wrong. Aḥmad did not marry at all until he was forty and did not marry again until after Ṣāliḥ’s mother had died. If he spent thirty years with her and another twenty with the second wife, he would have to have lived for ninety years. Yet he only lived to be seventy-seven. Moreover, he would need to have married ʿAbd Allāh’s mother when he was over seventy, but we know that by the time he died, ʿAbd Allāh was already transmitting his reports and traveling with him. Aḥmad used to say that ʿAbd Allāh— who had already begun seeking Hadith and had heard many teachers while his father was still alive—had a good head for memorizing Hadith. Therefore, I think that the person Aḥmad lived with for twenty years was Ṣāliḥ’s mother—though God knows best. 62.8

Waɗannan, a kowane hali, su ne mata biyu kaɗai da aka sani ya taɓa aure. Ba mu ji labarin mace ta uku ba.

These, in any case, are the two wives he is known to have had. We have not heard of a third.