Aḥmad, semoga Tuhan merahmatinya, membeli seorang budak perempuan bernama Ḥusn. 63.1

Aḥmad, God have mercy on him, bought a concubine named Ḥusn. 63.1

[Abū Yūsuf ibn Bukhtān:] Ketika Aḥmad meminta kami untuk membelikan budak perempuan itu untuknya, Fūrān dan saya pun pergi. Ketika kami hendak berangkat, Aḥmad menyusul saya dan berkata, "Pastikan dia berisi sedikit daging." 63.2

[Abū Yūsuf ibn Bukhtān:] When Aḥmad asked us to buy the girl for him, Fūrān and I went. As we were leaving, Aḥmad came after me and said, “Make sure she’s got some meat on her.” 63.2

[Zuhayr:] Ketika ibu ʿAbd Allāh meninggal, Aḥmad membeli Ḥusn. Dari Ḥusn ia melahirkan Umm ʿAlī, yang bernama Zaynab. Kemudian ia melahirkan al-Ḥasan dan al-Ḥusayn, yang kembar, tetapi keduanya meninggal tak lama setelah dilahirkan. Lalu ia melahirkan Muḥammad dan al-Ḥasan, yang hidup hingga sekitar empat puluh tahun. Setelah mereka ia melahirkan Saʿīd. 63.3

[Zuhayr:] When ʿAbd Allāh’s mother died, Aḥmad bought Ḥusn. She bore him Umm ʿAlī, whose name was Zaynab. Later she bore al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn, who were twins, but they died soon after they were born. Then she bore Muḥammad and al-Ḥasan, who lived till about forty. After them she bore Saʿīd. 63.3

[Ḥusn:] Saya bertanya kepada guru saya apakah saya sebaiknya menjual salah satu gelang kaki saya. Beliau bertanya apakah saya benar-benar bersungguh-sungguh, dan saya menjawab bahwa saya memang bersungguh-sungguh. 63.4

[Ḥusn:] I asked my master whether I should sell one of my anklets. He asked if I really meant it, and I said I did. 63.4

“Segala puji bagi Tuhan,” katanya, “yang telah membimbingmu untuk membuat pilihan ini.” Maka aku memberikan gelang kaki itu kepada Abū l-Ḥasan putra Ṣāliḥ, yang menjualnya seharga delapan setengah dinar. Ketika aku hamil, majikanku membagikan uang itu. Ketika aku melahirkan Ḥasan, ia memberi satu dirham kepada Karrāmah—seorang wanita tua yang melayani kami—dan menyuruhnya pergi kepada Ibn Shujāʿ—tetangga kami yang bekerja sebagai tukang daging—dan mengatakan kepadanya agar mengambil uang itu dan membeli sebuah kepala. Ia membeli kepala itu, Karrāmah membawanya pulang, dan kami memakannya.

“Praise God,” he said, “who led you to make this choice.” So I gave the anklet to Ṣāliḥ’s son Abū l-Ḥasan, who sold it for eight-and-a-half dinars. When I got pregnant, my master distributed the money. When I had Ḥasan, he gave a dirham to Karrāmah—an old woman who served us—and told her to go to Ibn Shujāʿ—a neighbor of ours who was a butcher—and tell him to take it and buy a head.318 He bought the head, she brought it home, and we ate it.

"Husn," katanya kepadaku, "yang tersisa padaku hanyalah dirham ini, dan inilah satu-satunya hari engkau akan mendapatkan sesuatu dariku."319

“Ḥusn,” he said to me, “all I have left is this dirham, and this is the only day you’ll get anything from me.”319

Setiap kali tidak ada uang di rumah, guruku merasa bahagia sepanjang hari.

Whenever there was no money in the house my master was happy all day.

Suatu hari dia masuk dan berkata bahwa dia membutuhkan bekam tetapi tidak punya uang. Maka aku pergi ke tempat penyimpanan tembikarku, mengambil setengah mann320 tenunan yang kusimpan di sana, dan mengirimkannya kepada salah seorang penenun, yang menjualnya seharga empat dirham. Aku menghabiskan setengah dirham untuk daging, dan dia menghabiskan satu dirham untuk bekam. Aku juga membeli minyak wangi seharga satu dirham lagi.

One day he came in and said he needed a cupping but had no money. So I went to my jar, took out half a mann320 of weaving I kept there, and sent it out to one of the weavers, who sold it for four dirhams. I spent half a dirham on meat, and he spent a dirham on the cupping. I also bought some perfume for another dirham.

Ketika tuanku pergi ke Samarra, aku menenun sepotong kain lembut dan menggunakannya untuk membuat sebuah jubah yang indah. Ketika ia kembali, aku mengeluarkan jubah itu—ini setelah aku dibayar lima belas dirham untuk itu dari hasil sewa—tetapi ketika ia melihatnya ia berkata, "Aku tidak menginginkannya." "Tuanku," kataku, "aku punya barang-barang lain yang kubuat dari kapas yang berbeda." Maka aku memberikan jubah itu kepada Fūrān, yang menjualnya seharga empat puluh dua dirham. Dengan uang itu aku membeli kapas dan menenunnya menjadi sebuah jubah besar. Ketika aku memberitahu Aḥmad, ia berkata, "Jangan dipotong—biarkan saja!" Akhirnya ia menggunakannya sebagai kain kafannya, dan mereka membungkusnya dengan jubah itu. Aku mengeluarkan kain kasar itu, dan ia yang memotongnya.322

When my master went out to Samarra, I wove a length of soft cloth and used it to make a beautiful robe. When he came back I brought out the robe—this was after I’d been paid fifteen dirhams for it out of the rental income321—but when he saw it he said, “I don’t want it.” “Master,” I said, “I have other things I made from different cotton.” So I gave the robe to Fūrān, who sold it for forty-two dirhams. With that I bought some cotton and wove it into a large gown. When I told Aḥmad, he said, “Don’t cut— leave it be!” He ended up using it as his shroud and they wrapped him up in it. I took out the coarse material and he cut it.322

Suatu kali ketika dia sedang sakit di akhir hayatnya, saya membuatkan sesuatu untuknya.

Once when he was sick at the end I baked something for him.

"Di mana kamu membuat ini?" tanyanya.

“Where did you bake this?” he asked.

"Di rumah ʿAbd Allāh," kataku.

“At ʿAbd Allāh’s,” I said.

"Bawalah itu," katanya, dan dia menolak untuk memakannya.

“Take it away,” he said, and refused to eat it.

Sejauh yang kami ketahui, Aḥmad hanya menikahi dua wanita—ibu Ṣāliḥ dan ibu ʿAbd Allāh—dan hanya memiliki satu budak perempuan (suri) yang riwayatnya telah kami kutip. Namanya Ḥusn. Namun, dalam kitabnya Virtues of Aḥmad,323 Abū l-Ḥusayn Aḥmad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Munādī meriwayatkan bahwa Aḥmad meminta izin kepada istrinya untuk membeli budak perempuan demi meneladani kebiasaan Nabi ﷺ. Istrinya memberi izin, lalu ia membeli seorang gadis yang harganya murah dan menamainya Rayḥānah, mengikuti sunnah Nabi ﷺ. Jika riwayat ini benar, berarti ia pasti pernah membeli dua budak, salah satunya ketika istrinya masih hidup.

[The author:] As far as we know, Aḥmad married only two women—Ṣāliḥ’s mother and ʿAbd Allāh’s—and had only the one concubine whose reports we have cited. Her name is Ḥusn. Yet, in his Virtues of Aḥmad,323 Abū l-Ḥusayn Aḥmad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Munādī reports that Aḥmad asked his wife for permission to buy a concubine in order to emulate the practice of the Prophet. She gave her permission and he bought an inexpensive girl he named Rayḥānah, following the sunnah of the Prophet. If this is right, he must have bought two slaves, one during his wife’s lifetime.

Tetapi hanya Tuhan yang paling mengetahui!324 63.5

But God alone knows best!324 63.5