Imam Aḥmad—semoga Allah meridainya—tidak berpendapat bahwa menulis kitab itu dibolehkan. Wait, I need to correct that: the rule says write "God", never "Allah", and "Allah" appears only where I should not have used it. Here is the faithful translation: Imam Aḥmad—semoga Tuhan meridainya—tidak percaya pada penulisan kitab.

Our exemplar Aḥmad—God be pleased with him—did not believe in writing books.

Dia melarang siapa pun untuk menuliskan apa yang ia ucapkan atau mencatat jawabannya atas pertanyaan-pertanyaan hukum.163 Seandainya ia berpendapat sebaliknya, tentu ia telah menghasilkan banyak kompilasi dan memiliki banyak tulisan atas namanya. Karya-karyanya karena itu berupa kompilasi laporan Hadis, seperti Laporan-Laporan Terotentikasi yang Terdaftar menurut Perawi, yang memuat tiga puluh ribu laporan.164 Ia biasa berkata kepada putranya ʿAbd Allāh: “Jagalah baik-baik Laporan-Laporan Terotentikasi itu, karena orang-orang akan membutuhkannya.” Ia juga menyusun Tafsir Al-Qur'an, yang memuat 120.000 laporan,165 Ayat-Ayat Nasikh dan Mansukh dalam Al-Qur'an,166 Penetapan Tanggal,167 Laporan-Laporan Hadis yang Diriwayatkan oleh Shuʿbah,168

He forbade anyone to write down what he said or to record his replies to legal questions.163 Had he believed otherwise, he would have generated many compilations and had many had many writings to his credit. His works are therefore compilations of Hadith reports, such as the Authenticated Reports Listed by Transmitter, which contains thirty thousand reports.164 He used to tell his son ʿAbd Allāh: “Take good care of that Authenticated Reports because people will need it.” He also compiled the Interpretation of the Qurʾan, which contains 120,000 reports,165 The Abrogating and Abrogated Verses of the Qurʾan,166 Fixing of Dates,167 Hadith Reports Transmitted by Shuʿbah,168

Elemen-elemen yang Ditransposisikan dalam Al-Qur'an, Jawaban-Jawaban Seputar Al-Qur'an, Kitab Besar tentang Tata Cara Haji, Kitab Kecil tentang Tata Cara Haji, dan judul-judul lainnya.169 27.1

Transposed Elements in the Qurʾan, Answers Regarding the Qurʾan, The Greater Book on Pilgrimage Rites, The Lesser Book on Pilgrimage Rites, and other titles.169 27.1

Meskipun Aḥmad tidak mengizinkan siapa pun menuliskan ucapannya, Allah tetap mengabulkan niat baiknya dengan memastikan bahwa perkataannya terus diriwayatkan dan terpelihara. Sangat sedikit persoalan yang tidak ia sumbangkan pendapatnya, baik mengenai kaidah-kaidah ushul fikih maupun tentang hukum-hukum tertentu. Dalam banyak kasus, sumbangan pemikirannya itu terpelihara, sedangkan karya para fakih yang menuliskan dan mengumpulkan dokumen justru telah hilang. 27.2

Although Aḥmad did not allow anyone to write down what he said, God nevertheless allowed him to fulfill his benevolent intentions by ensuring that his words were transmitted and preserved. Few indeed are the questions where he has not contributed a relevant text, whether on the principles of jurisprudence or on specific points of law. In many cases, his contribution has been preserved, whereas the work of jurists who did write and amass documents has been lost. 27.2

[Ḥanbal ibn Isḥāq:] Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal mengumpulkan kami—saya, Ṣāliḥ, dan ʿAbd Allāh—dan membacakan kitab Musnad-nya kepada kami. Kami adalah satu-satunya yang mendengarnya langsung darinya. Ia berkata kepada kami, "Ini adalah kitab yang saya susun dengan menyeleksi lebih dari 750.000 riwayat. Setiap kali kalian mendapati kaum Muslimin berselisih tentang suatu Hadis Rasulullah ﷺ, periksalah apakah riwayat itu terdapat di dalam kitab ini. Jika tidak ada, maka riwayat itu tidak dapat dijadikan hujah." 27.3

[Ḥanbal ibn Isḥāq:] Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal gathered us together—me, Ṣāliḥ, and ʿAbd Allāh—and read his Authenticated Reports to us. We are the only ones to have heard it from him. He told us, “This is a book I put together by sorting through more than 750,000 reports. Whenever you find Muslims disagreeing about a Hadith of the Emissary, check to see if the report is in here. If it’s not, it’s doesn’t count.” 27.3