[Al-Walīd al-Naḥwī:] Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal adalah seorang pria yang tampan dan berperawakan sedang. Ia mewarnai rambutnya dengan sedikit inai, dan di jenggotnya masih tersisa beberapa helai rambut hitam. Pakaiannya kasar namun berwarna putih. Ketika saya melihatnya, ia mengenakan sorban dan kain penutup pinggang. 35.1

[Al-Walīd al-Naḥwī:] Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal was a handsome man of medium height. He dyed his hair lightly with henna, leaving some black hairs in his beard. His clothing was coarse but white. When I saw him he was wearing a turban and a breechclout. 35.1

[ʿAbd Allāh:] Ayahku mulai menyemir rambut dan jenggotnya dengan inai ketika berusia enam puluh tiga tahun. 35.2

[ʿAbd Allāh:] My father began dyeing his hair and beard with henna when he was sixty-three. 35.2

[Al-Sijistānī:] Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal tidak pernah ikut serta dalam pembicaraan orang-orang tentang hal-hal yang kebanyakan mereka pedulikan, tetapi setiap kali Hadits disebut-sebut, beliau pun berbicara. 35.3

[Al-Sijistānī:] Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal never joined people in talking about the things that most of them care about, but whenever Hadith was mentioned he would speak. 35.3

[Al-ʿUkbarī:] Ketika saya melihat Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, beliau adalah seorang lelaki tua yang tinggi, rambutnya disemir, dan kulitnya sangat gelap. 35.4

[Al-ʿUkbarī:] When I saw Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, he was a tall old man with dyed hair and very dark skin. 35.4

[Al-Marrūdhī:] Ketika Aḥmad berada di rumah, ia biasanya duduk dengan lutut ditarik ke dada dan kepala tertunduk rendah hati di hadapan Tuhan. Namun ketika berada di luar, kerendahan hatinya tidak semudah itu terlihat seperti ketika ia berada di dalam rumah. Aku pernah masuk dan mendapatinya sedang membaca dari sebuah kuras yang ia pegang di tangannya. Ketika aku duduk, ia akan menutupnya dan meletakkannya di hadapannya. 35.5

[Al-Marrūdhī:] When Aḥmad was at home, he usually sat knees to the chest with his head bowed humbly before God. When he was outside, though, the humility was not so easy to see as it was when he was inside. I would come in and find him reading from a quire he held in his hand. When I sat down, he would close it and put it down in front of him. 35.5

[Khaṭṭāb ibn Bishr:] Saya sedang duduk di masjid Aḥmad bersama Abū Bakr al-Marrūdhī, saling bertukar riwayat hadis, ketika Abū Bakr mendengar pintu terbuka lalu melompat berdiri. Ternyata Aḥmad yang menjulurkan kepalanya keluar. 35.6

[Khaṭṭāb ibn Bishr:] I was sitting in Aḥmad’s mosque with Abū Bakr al-Marrūdhī trading Hadith reports when Abū Bakr heard the door open and jumped up. There was Aḥmad, sticking his head out. 35.6

"Pergilah lihat di mana Hasan sekarang," katanya, maksudnya putra kecilnya.

“Go look and see where Ḥasan’s gotten to,” he said, meaning his little boy.

"Anak itu benar-benar membuat orang miskin itu khawatir," pikirku. Waktu itu tengah hari, dan musim panas.

“The boy’s really got the poor man worried,” I thought to myself. The time was midday, and it was summer.

Abu Bakr masuk ke salah satu rumah tempat tinggal para penenun, menemukan anak laki-laki itu, dan membawanya keluar. Ia memberitahunya di mana aku berada, lalu ia menyuruhku masuk.193

Abū Bakr went into one of the houses where the weavers lived, found the boy, and brought him out. He told him where I was, and he told me to come in.193

Aku masuk ke ruang depan dan mendapati Aḥmad duduk di lantai tanah. Warna rambutnya sudah luntur, dan aku bisa melihat akar rambutnya yang putih. Ia mengenakan cawat kecil yang kotor dari kain katun putih dan sehelai baju kasar dengan noda di bahu serta bekas keringat di kerahnya.

I went into the entryway and found Aḥmad sitting on the dirt floor. The dye in his hair had run, and I could see the white roots of his hair. He was wearing a small, dirty breechclout of white cotton and a coarse shirt with a smudge on the shoulder and sweat stains on the collar.

Saya bertanya kepadanya tentang sikap wara' dan kehalalan mencari nafkah. Begitu pertanyaan itu terlontar, saya melihat wajahnya murung dan ia memasang ekspresi penuh penyesalan diri yang menyedihkan, sampai saya merasa pedih memandanginya. Ketika saya beranjak pergi, saya berkata kepada seseorang yang bersama saya, "Ada hari-hari ketika ia tampak begitu tidak puas dengan dirinya sendiri." [Ismāʿīl:] Lebih dari lima ribu orang biasa datang untuk mendengarkan ceramah Aḥmad.

I asked him a question about being scrupulous and the lawfulness of earning a living. No sooner had I asked the question than I saw his face fall and assume such a sorrowful expression of self-contempt that it pained me to look at him. As I left, I said to someone who was with me, “Some days he seems so dissatisfied with himself.” [Ismāʿīl:] Upwards of five thousand people used to come hear Aḥmad speak.

Kurang dari lima ratus orang dari mereka datang untuk menuliskan Hadis; sisanya hadir untuk mempelajari akhlak dan perilakunya. 35.7

Fewer than five hundred of them came to write down Hadith: the rest were there to study his manners and his bearing. 35.7

[Al-Muṭṭawwiʿī:] Selama dua belas tahun saya datang untuk melihat Aḥmad membacakan Hadis-hadis Shahihnya kepada anak-anaknya. Saya tidak pernah menulis satu hadis pun: saya hadir untuk meneladani beliau, mempelajari akhlaknya, dan memperhatikan adab-adabnya. 35.8

[Al-Muṭṭawwiʿī:] For twelve years I went to see Aḥmad read his Authenticated Reports to his children. I never wrote down a single report: I was there to follow his example, study his ethics, and observe his manners. 35.8

[Al-Būshanjī:] Saya tidak pernah melihat Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal duduk kecuali dengan satu cara—lutut ditarik ke dada—kecuali ketika ia sedang salat. Itulah cara duduk yang digambarkan Qaylah dalam riwayat hadis, ketika ia berkata, "Aku melihat Rasulullah ﷺ duduk dengan lutut ditarik ke dada, seperti seorang yang merendahkan diri di hadapan Tuhan." Ia biasa berwudu dengan pasir sambil duduk dalam posisi itu, yang merupakan sikap paling khusyuk di hadapan Tuhan. Artinya duduk bertumpu pada pantat dengan lutut ditarik ke dada dan telapak kaki rata di lantai. Kadang ia melingkarkan lengannya di sekeliling kakinya. Tidak ada sikap yang lebih khusyuk daripada itu. 35.9

[Al-Būshanjī:] I saw Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal sit only one way—knees to the chest— except when he was praying. That’s the way of sitting that Qaylah describes in the Hadith report where she says, “I saw the Emissary of God sitting knees to the chest, like a man making himself humble before God.” He used to perform his ablutions with sand while sitting in that position, which is the most timid before God. It means sitting on one’s behind with the knees to the chest and feet flat on the floor. Sometimes he would put his arm around his legs. No posture is more timid than that. 35.9

[Muḥammad ibn Yūnus:] Kami mendengar al-Ruʾāsī meriwayatkan: "Dari seluruh Sahabat Nabi ﷺ, tidak ada yang lebih dekat dengan beliau ﷺ dalam tuntunan, sikap, dan tingkah lakunya selain ʿAbdullah ibn Masʿūd. Pada generasi berikutnya, orang yang paling menyerupai Ibnu Masʿūd adalah ʿAlqamah ibn Qays. Setelah ʿAlqamah, orang yang paling menyerupainya adalah Ibrāhīm al-Nakhaʿī. Setelah al-Nakhaʿī, orang yang paling menyerupainya adalah Manṣūr ibn al-Muʿtamir. Setelah Manṣūr ibn al-Muʿtamir, orang yang paling menyerupainya adalah Sufyān al-Thawrī. Setelah Sufyān, orang yang paling menyerupainya adalah Wakīʿ ibn al-Jarrāḥ."" 35.10

[Muḥammad ibn Yūnus:] We heard al-Ruʾāsī report: “Of all the Emissary’s Companions, none was closer to him in his example, his bearing, and his carriage than ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd. In the next generation, the one who most resembled Ibn Masʿūd was ʿAlqamah ibn Qays. After ʿAlqamah, the one who most resembled him was Ibrāhīm al-Nakhaʿī. After al-Nakhaʿī, the one who most resembled him was Manṣūr ibn al-Muʿtamir. After Manṣūr ibn al-Muʿtamir, the one who most resembled him was Sufyān al-Thawrī. After Sufyān, the one who most resembled him was Wakīʿ ibn al-Jarrāḥ.” 35.10

Dan yang paling dekat dengan Wakīʿ adalah Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal.

And the one closest to Wakīʿ was Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal.

[Al-Ḥasan ibn al-Rabīʿ:] Dalam teladan dan sikapnya, satu-satunya orang yang bisa saya bandingkan dengan Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal adalah Ibn al-Mubārak. 35.11

[Al-Ḥasan ibn al-Rabīʿ:] In his example and his bearing, the only person I can compare Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal to is Ibn al-Mubārak. 35.11