[Al-Walīd al-Naḥwī:] Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal adalah seorang lelaki yang tampan dan bertubuh sederhana tinggi. Dia mewarnai rambutnya sedikit dengan inai, dan membiarkan beberapa helai rambut hitam kekal di janggutnya. Pakaiannya kasar tetapi putih. Ketika saya melihatnya, dia memakai serban dan kain cawat. 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:] Ayah saya mula mewarnakan rambut dan janggutnya dengan inai ketika dia berumur 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 menyertai orang ramai dalam perbualan tentang perkara-perkara yang kebanyakan mereka pedulikan, tetapi setiap kali Hadith disebut, beliau akan bercakap. 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:] Apabila saya melihat Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, beliau seorang lelaki tua yang tinggi, dengan rambut yang diwarnai dan kulit yang 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:] Apabila Aḥmad berada di rumah, dia biasanya duduk dengan lutut dirapatkan ke dada dan kepalanya tertunduk merendah diri di hadapan Tuhan. Apabila berada di luar pula, sifat merendah diri itu tidak semudah itu dapat dilihat seperti ketika dia berada di dalam rumah. Saya akan masuk dan mendapati dia sedang membaca daripada sebuah helai buku kecil yang dipegangnya. Apabila saya duduk, dia 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 sambil bertukar riwayat Hadis apabila Abū Bakr mendengar pintu dibuka lalu terus bangun. Ternyata Aḥmad, sambil menjenguk 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

"Pergi tengok di mana Ḥasan sudah sampai," katanya, merujuk kepada anak kecilnya.

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

"Budak itu betul-betul membuatkan lelaki miskin itu risau," fikir saya dalam hati. 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 sebuah rumah tempat tinggal para penenun, menemui anak lelaki itu, lalu membawanya keluar. Dia memberitahunya di mana aku berada, dan dia 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

Saya masuk ke ruang depan dan mendapati Aḥmad duduk di atas lantai tanah. Warna rambutnya sudah luntur, dan saya dapat melihat akar rambutnya yang putih. Dia memakai cawat kecil yang kotor dari kain katun putih dan sehelai baju kasar dengan noda di bahu serta bekas peluh 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 satu soalan tentang sikap berhati-hati (wara') dan kehalalan mencari rezeki. Sebaik sahaja saya bertanya, saya nampak wajahnya berubah murung dan dia menunjukkan riak penghinaan diri yang begitu sedih sehingga menyakitkan hati saya untuk memandangnya. Ketika saya beredar, saya berkata kepada seseorang yang bersama saya, "Ada hari-hari dia kelihatan begitu tidak puas hati dengan dirinya." [Ismāʿīl:] Lebih daripada lima ribu orang biasa datang untuk mendengar Aḥmad bercakap.

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 daripada lima ratus orang dari mereka datang untuk menulis Hadith; yang selebihnya hadir untuk mempelajari akhlak dan perilaku baginda. 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 pergi menemui Aḥmad untuk mendengar beliau membacakan Hadis-hadis Sahihnya kepada anak-anaknya. Saya tidak pernah menulis satu hadis pun: saya ada di sana untuk mengikuti teladannya, mempelajari akhlaknya, dan memerhatikan 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 melainkan dalam satu cara sahaja—lutut dirapatkan ke dada—kecuali ketika beliau sedang solat. Itulah cara duduk yang digambarkan oleh Qaylah dalam riwayat Hadith, di mana beliau berkata, "Saya melihat Rasulullah ﷺ duduk dengan lutut dirapatkan ke dada, seperti seorang lelaki yang merendahkan diri di hadapan Tuhan." Beliau biasa berwuduk dengan pasir sambil duduk dalam kedudukan itu, dan itulah cara yang paling merendahkan diri di hadapan Tuhan. Maksudnya ialah duduk di atas punggung dengan lutut dirapatkan ke dada dan kaki rata di atas lantai. Kadang-kadang beliau melingkarkan lengannya pada kakinya. Tiada kedudukan yang lebih merendahkan diri 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 kalangan para Sahabat Utusan Allah ﷺ, tiada seorang pun yang lebih dekat dengan baginda ﷺ dari segi akhlak, tingkah laku dan cara hidupnya daripada ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd. Dalam generasi berikutnya, orang yang paling menyerupai Ibn Masʿūd ialah ʿAlqamah ibn Qays. Selepas ʿAlqamah, orang yang paling menyerupainya ialah Ibrāhīm al-Nakhaʿī. Selepas al-Nakhaʿī, orang yang paling menyerupainya ialah Manṣūr ibn al-Muʿtamir. Selepas Manṣūr ibn al-Muʿtamir, orang yang paling menyerupainya ialah Sufyān al-Thawrī. Selepas Sufyān, orang yang paling menyerupainya ialah 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 ialah Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal.

And the one closest to Wakīʿ was Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal.

[Al-Ḥasan ibn al-Rabīʿ:] Dalam contoh teladan dan tingkah lakunya, satu-satunya orang yang saya boleh bandingkan dengan Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal ialah 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