[Al-Būshanjī:] Pada tahun 227 H [842 M], Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal mengajarkan hadis secara terbuka di Baghdad. Itu tepat setelah al-Mu'taṣim wafat. Kami sedang berada di Kufah ketika mendengar kabar itu. Aku kembali ke Baghdad dan menyusulnya pada bulan Rajab tahun itu, ketika ia masih mengajar. Kemudian, tiga hari sebelum akhir Sya'ban, ia berhenti atas kemauannya sendiri. Pihak berwenang tidak menyuruhnya berhenti, tetapi al-Ḥasan ibn 'Alī ibn al-Ja'd, yang ketika itu menjadi hakim di Baghdad, telah menulis surat kepada Ibn Abī Du'ād untuk memberitahukan bahwa Aḥmad mengajarkan hadis secara terbuka. Ketika Aḥmad mengetahui hal ini, ia berhenti tanpa perlu diminta.

[Al-Būshanjī:] In ’27 [842], Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal taught Hadith openly in Baghdad. That was right after al-Muʿtaṣim died. We were in Kufa when we heard the news. I headed back to Baghdad and caught up with him in Rajab of that year, while he was still teaching. Then, with three days left in Shaʿbān, he stopped of his own accord. The authorities hadn’t told him to stop, but al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Jaʿd, who was then judge in Baghdad, had written to Ibn Abī Duʾād to tell him that Aḥmad was openly teaching Hadith. When Aḥmad learned of this, he stopped without having to be asked.

Sepanjang yang kita ketahui, ia tidak mengajar selama masa pemerintahan al-Mu'tasim, yang berlangsung selama delapan tahun delapan hari. Setelah itu ia sama sekali tidak mengajar lagi hingga wafat. 71.1

As far as we know, he had not taught during al-Muʿtaṣim’s reign, which lasted for eight years and eight days. After that he did not teach again at all until he died. 71.1