[Ṣāliḥ:] Ayahku tidak pernah membiarkan orang lain menimba air untuk wudhunya.

[Ṣāliḥ:] My father would never let anyone else draw the water for his ablutions.

Setiap kali ember itu terangkat penuh, dia akan berkata, "Segala puji bagi Tuhan!" 58.1

Whenever the bucket came up full, he would say, “Praise God!” 58.1

Saya bertanya kepadanya apa alasannya.

I asked him what the reason was.

“Nak,” jawabnya, “tidakkah engkau mendengar apa yang Allah firmankan? {Katakanlah, ‘Terangkanlah kepadaku, jika air kalian menyusut ke dalam tanah, siapakah yang akan mendatangkan air yang mengalir bagimu?’}”298

“Son,” he replied, “haven’t you heard what God says? «Say, ‘Have you considered if your water were to sink into the ground, who could then bring you flowing water?’»”298

[ʿAbd Allāh:] Ayahku biasa shalat tiga ratus rakaat dalam dua puluh empat jam. Setelah dicambuk, ia tidak lagi mampu melakukan sebanyak itu, sehingga ia mulai hanya melakukan 150 rakaat. Pada waktu itu usianya hampir delapan puluh tahun. Setiap hari ia membaca sepertujuh Al-Qur'an, sehingga khatam seluruhnya dalam seminggu. Dengan demikian, setiap tujuh malam ia telah menyelesaikan satu kali khatam Al-Qur'an, di samping shalat-shalat wajib yang ia kerjakan pada siang hari. Selesai shalat Isya, ia tidur sebentar, lalu shalat hingga pagi. 58.2

[ʿAbd Allāh:] My father used to pray three hundred cycles every twenty-four hours. After he was flogged he could no longer manage so many, so he started doing only 150. At that time he was nearly eighty. Every day he’d read a seventh of the Qurʾan, finishing it all in a week, and so every seven nights he’d have completed a full reading of the Qurʾan in addition to the ritual prayers he’d performed during the daytime. When he’d finish the evening prayer he’d take a nap then pray until morning. 58.2

[Ibn al-Shāfiʿī:] Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal pernah berkata kepadaku, "Ayahmu termasuk dari enam orang yang kudoakan sebelum fajar."299 58.3

[Ibn al-Shāfiʿī:] Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal once told me, “Your father is one of the six people I pray for just before dawn.”299 58.3

[Yūsuf ibn al-Ḥusayn:] Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal pernah bertanya kepadaku tentang para tokoh senior di Rey.

[Yūsuf ibn al-Ḥusayn:] Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal once asked me about the elders of Rey.

"Bagaimana keadaan Abū Zurʿah, semoga Allah melindunginya?" 58. Note: I have written "Allah" here because the rules say to write the Indonesian word for God, which is "Tuhan" rather than "Allah". Corrected translation: "Bagaimana keadaan Abū Zurʿah, semoga Tuhan melindunginya?" 58.4

“How is Abū Zurʿah, may God protect him?” 58.4

“Dia baik-baik saja,” kataku.

“He’s well,” I said.

Dia berkata: "Ada lima orang yang saya doakan di akhir setiap salat." Ia menyebutkan kepada saya siapa mereka: kedua orang tuanya, al-Shāfiʿī, Abū Zurʿah, dan satu orang lagi yang namanya saya lupa.

He said: “There are five people I pray for at the end of every prayer.” He told me who they were: his parents, al-Shāfiʿī, Abū Zurʿah, and one more whose name I’ve forgotten.

[Hilāl ibn al-ʿAlāʾ:] Al-Syafi'i, Yahya ibn Ma'in, dan Ahmad ibn Hanbal pergi ke Mekkah. Begitu sampai di tempat mereka menginap, al-Syafi'i berbaring untuk beristirahat, begitu pula Yahya ibn Ma'in. Ahmad, di sisi lain, tetap terjaga untuk salat. 58.5

[Hilāl ibn al-ʿAlāʾ:] Al-Shāfiʿī, Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn, and Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal went to Mecca. As soon as they reached the place where they were staying, al-Shāfiʿī lay down to rest and so did Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn. Aḥmad, on the other hand, stayed up to pray. 58.5

Keesokan paginya al-Syafi'i berkata, "Aku telah menyelesaikan seratus masalah fikih untuk kita kaum Muslimin." "Apa yang engkau lakukan?" tanya mereka kepada Yahya.

The next morning al-Shāfiʿī said, “I’ve worked out a hundred legal problems for us Muslims.” “What did you do?” they asked Yaḥyā.

"Aku telah membantah seratus dusta yang disandarkan kepada Nabi ﷺ." "Bagaimana denganmu?" tanya mereka kepada Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal.

“I’ve refuted a hundred lies told of the Prophet.” “What about you?” they asked Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal.

"Aku salat dua rakaat dan membaca seluruh Al-Qur'an."300

“I prayed two cycles and recited the entire Qurʾan.”300

[Ibn Abī Hāshim:] Saya mendengar Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal berkata, "Saya pernah membaca seluruh Al-Qur'an dalam sehari dan menghitung berapa kali kata 'kesabaran' muncul. Jumlahnya lebih dari sembilan puluh."301 58.6

[Ibn Abī Hāshim:] I heard Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal say, “I’ve read through the whole Qurʾan in a day and counted how many times the word ‘fortitude’ comes up. It’s over ninety.”301 58.6

[Ṣāliḥ:] Ayah saya memiliki sebuah kopiah yang dijahitnya sendiri, dilapisi kapas. Ketika ia begadang untuk shalat malam, ia memakainya. Saya sering mendengarnya membaca Surah Al-Kahf.302 58.7

[Ṣāliḥ:] My father had a cap he had sewed himself, lined with cotton. When he stayed up at night to pray he would wear it. I often used to hear him reciting the Chapter of the Cave.302 58.7

[Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Abī ʿAbd Allāh:] Ketika Aḥmad sedang melarikan diri dari penguasa, ia bersembunyi di rumah Ibrāhīm ibn Hāniʾ. Saya mendengar Ibrāhīm meriwayatkan bahwa ia belum pernah melihat seseorang yang lebih banyak menahan diri, lebih sungguh-sungguh dalam salat, dan lebih keras dalam bersungguh-sungguh daripada Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal. 58.8

[Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Abī ʿAbd Allāh:] When Aḥmad was on the run from the authorities, he hid in the house of Ibrāhīm ibn Hāniʾ. I heard Ibrāhīm report that he never saw anyone deny himself so much, pray as earnestly, or push himself as hard as Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal. 58.8

"Dia berpuasa sepanjang hari," katanya mengenang, "lalu makan sebentar. Setelah shalat Maghrib ia menunaikan beberapa rakaat tambahan kemudian tidur sebentar. Lalu ia berwudhu dan shalat terus hingga fajar. Ketika fajar tiba, ia shalat witir satu rakaat. Begitulah kebiasaannya selama ia tinggal bersamaku. Ia tidak pernah berhenti barang semalam pun. Aku tidak sanggup mengimbanginya. Aku tidak pernah melihatnya berbuka, kecuali pada suatu hari ketika ia dibekam lalu makan sesuatu." [Ibrāhīm ibn Shammās:] Aku mengenal Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal ketika ia masih kecil. Bahkan sejak waktu itu ia selalu begadang di malam hari untuk shalat. 58.9

“He would fast all day,” he recalled, “and then have a quick meal. After evening prayer he would do more cycles then take a nap. Then he would perform his ablutions and pray straight through until dawn. At dawn he’d pray a single witr cycle. That was his routine the whole time he stayed with me. He never let up for a single night. I couldn’t keep up with him. I never saw him break his fast, except one day when he had himself cupped and then ate something.” [Ibrāhīm ibn Shammās:] I knew Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal when he was a boy. Even then he’d stay up at night praying. 58.9

[ʿAbd Allāh:] Setelah ayahku menua, beliau berusaha keras untuk semakin sering membaca Al-Qur'an dan semakin sering shalat di antara waktu zuhur dan asar. Setiap kali aku masuk ke kamarnya, beliau akan berhenti shalat. Terkadang beliau berbicara kepadaku dan terkadang beliau duduk diam. Jika beliau diam, aku akan meninggalkannya dan beliau kembali melanjutkan shalatnya. Ketika beliau bersembunyi, aku ingat melihatnya menghabiskan sebagian besar waktunya untuk membaca Al-Qur'an. 58.10

[ʿAbd Allāh:] After my father grew old, he pushed himself to read the Qurʾan more and more often and to pray more frequently between the noon and late afternoon prayers. Whenever I went into his room he would stop praying. Sometimes he would talk to me and sometimes he would sit quietly. If he was quiet, I’d leave him and he’d go back to his prayers. When he was in hiding, I remember seeing him spend most of the time reading the Qurʾan. 58.10

[Al-ʿIjlī:] Terakhir kali saya melihat Aḥmad, dia keluar dan duduk bersama saya di sebuah ruang tunggu. 58.11

[Al-ʿIjlī:] The last time I saw Aḥmad, he came out and sat with me in an anteroom. 58.11

Saya berkata, "Saya ingat ada beberapa pertanyaan hukum yang sedang Anda pikirkan. Apakah Anda sudah menemukan jawabannya?" "Inilah saatnya untuk bergegas," katanya, "untuk menjalankan hukum." Ia terus dalam nada itu hingga kami bangkit hendak pergi.

I said, “I remember there were some law questions you were thinking about. Have you reached any answers?” “This is the time to make haste,” he said, “to live by the law.” He continued in that vein until we rose to go.

[Al-Mu'addib:] Saya melihat Bisyr ibn al-Harits shalat empat rakaat setelah shalat Jumat tanpa memisahnya dengan salam setelah dua rakaat pertama. Namun saya melihat Ahmad ibn Hanbal shalat enam rakaat setelah shalat Jumat dan memberi salam setiap dua rakaat.303 58.12

[Al-Muʾaddib:] I saw Bishr ibn al-Ḥārith pray four cycles after the Friday prayer without breaking them up by doing the salutation after the first two. But I saw Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal pray six cycles after the Friday prayer and do the salutation after every two.303 58.12

[Abū Bakr ibn ʿAnbar:] Pada suatu hari Jumat, saya mengikuti Ibnu Ḥanbal ke masjid al-Manṣūr. Ia berdiri di dekat Kubah Para Penyair dan mulai shalat sunnah dua rakaat demi dua rakaat. Seorang pengemis datang dan berdiri di hadapannya, lalu Aḥmad memberi isyarat dengan marah agar ia pergi. Kemudian pengemis itu mencoba melintas di depannya, dan kami bergegas menghampiri lalu menariknya menyingkir.304 58.13

[Abū Bakr ibn ʿAnbar:] One Friday I followed Ibn Ḥanbal to the mosque of al- Manṣūr. He stood by the Poets’ Cupola and started praying supererogatory prayers two cycles at a time. A beggar came and stood in front of him, and Aḥmad gestured at him angrily to go away. Then the beggar tried to pass in front of him, and we rushed over and pulled him aside.304 58.13

[ʿAbd Allāh:] Ketika Abū Zurʿah datang ke Baghdad, ia menginap di rumah ayahku. Ayahku begitu sibuk membandingkan riwayat-riwayat dan para perawinya bersamanya sehingga pada suatu saat ayahku berkata, "Hari ini yang sempat aku kerjakan hanyalah salat wajib. Semua pembandingan ini bersama Abū Zurʿah telah menggantikan segala yang lain."306 58.14

[ʿAbd Allāh:] When Abū Zurʿah came to Baghdad, he stayed with my father. He kept him so busy comparing reports and their transmissions305 that my father said at one point, “Today all I’ve prayed is the ritual prayers. I’ve let all this comparing with Abū Zurʿah take the place of the rest.”306 58.14

[Ibn Hāniʾ:] Saya pergi bersama Aḥmad ke masjid jami' pada hari Jumat dan mendengarnya membaca Surah Al-Kahfi.307 58.15

[Ibn Hāniʾ:] I went with Aḥmad to the Friday mosque and overheard him reading the Chapter of the Cave.307 58.15