[ʿAbd Allāh:] Eu ouvi Abū Zurʿah dizer que Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal conhecia um milhão de relatos de Hadith. 8.1

[ʿAbd Allāh:] I heard Abū Zurʿah say that Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal knew a million Hadith reports. 8.1

"Como você saberia?", perguntaram a ele.

“How would you know?” he was asked.

"Ele e eu as recitávamos um para o outro, e passávamos pelos diferentes tópicos."49

“He and I recited them to each other, and we went through the different topics.”49

[Ṣāliḥ:] Meu pai me contou que um homem certa vez foi à porta de Ibn ʿUlayyah com os livros de hadith de Hushaym. 8.2

[Ṣāliḥ:] My father told me that a man once came to Ibn ʿUlayyah’s door with Hushaym’s Hadith books. 8.2

Ele começou a ler os relatos para mim, e eu dizia a cadeia de transmissores de cada um. Al-Muʿayṭī também costumava memorizar ahadith, e quando ele chegou, pedi que assumisse a leitura, mas ele não aceitou.50

“He started reading the reports out to me, and I would say the chain of transmitters for each one. Al-Muʿayṭī also used to memorize Hadith, and when he arrived I asked him to take over, but he wouldn’t.”50

Meu pai disse: "Eu até conhecia relatos [transmitidos por Hushaym] que nunca tinha ouvido diretamente dele." [Aḥmad:] Memorizei tudo o que ouvi de Hushaym enquanto ele ainda estava vivo. 8.3

My father said, “I even knew of reports [transmitted by Hushaym] that I had never heard directly from him.” [Aḥmad:] I memorized everything I heard from Hushaym while he was still alive. 8.3

[Ibn Abī Ḥātim:] Saʿīd ibn ʿAmr al-Bardhaʿī certa vez perguntou a Abū Zurʿah quem havia memorizado mais, ele ou Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal. 8.4

[Ibn Abī Ḥātim:] Saʿīd ibn ʿAmr al-Bardhaʿī once asked Abū Zurʿah who had memorized more, he or Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal. 8.4

"Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, claro." "Como você sabe disso?" "Quando olhei os seus papéis", disse Abū Zurʿah, "vi que, no início de cada caderno,51 ele não listava os nomes dos transmissores de quem ouvira relatos. Em vez disso, para cada caderno, ele sabia de cor os nomes dos transmissores. Eu nunca conseguiria fazer isso." [Al-Tustarī:] Perguntaram a Abū Zurʿah qual dos transmissores mais antigos tinha a melhor memória. 8.5

“Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, of course.” “How do you know that?” “When I looked at his papers,” said Abū Zurʿah, “I saw that at the front of each quire,51 he didn’t list the names of the transmitters he heard reports from. Instead, for every quire, he knew the names of the transmitters by heart. I could never do that.” [Al-Tustarī:] Abū Zurʿah was asked which of the senior transmitters had the best memory. 8.5

“Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal”, disse ele. “No dia em que morreu, fizeram uma estimativa do número de papéis que deixou. Chegou a doze carregamentos e meio.52 Em nenhuma das folhas externas ele havia escrito ‘o Hadith de Fulano’, nem nas folhas internas havia escrito ‘Fulano nos relatou’. Tudo isso ele sabia de cor.” [Abū Zurʿah:] Fui visitar Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal e pedi que encontrasse para mim o Hadith de Sufyān. Ele trouxe cadernos todos marcados Sufyān, somente Sufyān, sem indicar um único relato como “transmitido por Fulano”. Pensei que todos deviam ter sido transmitidos pela mesma pessoa. Mas quando escolhi alguns para ele ler de volta, ele dizia para cada Hadith: “Wakīʿ”, ou “Yaḥyā”, ou quem fosse, “nos relatou…”. Fiquei admirado. Mais de uma vez tentei fazer algo assim, mas nunca consegui. 8.6

“Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal,” he said. “The day he died, they made an estimate of the number of papers he left behind. It came to twelve and a half loads.52 Nowhere on any of the outside pages had he written ‘the Hadith of So-and-So,’ or ‘So-and-So reported to us’ on any of the inside pages. All of that he knew by heart.” [Abū Zurʿah:] I went to see Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal and asked him to find Sufyān’s Hadith for me. He brought out quires all labeled Sufyān, just Sufyān, without marking a single report as “Transmitted by So-and-So.” I thought they must all have been transmitted by the same person. But when I picked some out for him to read back, he would say for each Hadith, “Wakīʿ,” or “Yaḥyā,” or whoever, “reported to us …” I was amazed. More than once I’ve tried to do something like that, but I’ve never been able to. 8.6

[Aḥmad:] Eu costumava desafiar Wakīʿ a recitar de memória os relatos de Hadith de al-Thawrī. Sempre que Wakīʿ terminava a última oração da noite, deixava a mesquita e seguia para casa. Eu o desafiava, e ele frequentemente respondia citando nove ou dez relatos, que eu então memorizava. Depois que ele saía, os estudiosos de Hadith me pediam que lhes ditasse os relatos, e eu o fazia. 8.7

[Aḥmad:] I used to challenge Wakīʿ to recite al-Thawrī’s Hadith reports from memory. Whenever Wakiʿ finished the last prayer of the night, he would leave the mosque and head for home. I would challenge him and he would often reply by citing nine or ten reports, which I would then memorize. After he left, the Hadith scholars would ask me to dictate the reports to them, and I would. 8.7

[Ibn Saʿīd:] Sempre que Wakīʿ deixava o círculo de Hadith para fazer a oração do Maghrib, Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal o acompanhava e ficava de pé junto à porta enquanto Wakīʿ continuava a interrogá-lo sobre relatos. Certa noite, Wakīʿ parou no umbral com as mãos apoiadas na ombreira e disse: "Vou testar você sobre o Hadith de Sufyān." 8.8

[Ibn Saʿīd:] Whenever Wakīʿ would leave the Hadith-circle to pray the evening prayer, Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal would go with him and stand by the door while Wakīʿ kept quizzing him about reports. One night, Wakīʿ stopped in the doorway with his hands on the jamb and said, “I’m going to test you on the Hadith of Sufyān.” 8.8

— Pode prosseguir — disse Ibn Ḥanbal.

“Go ahead,” said Ibn Ḥanbal.

"Você memorizou o que Sufyān transmitiu citando Salamah ibn Kuhayl … ?" perguntou Wakīʿ, recitando o Hadith.

“Have you memorized what Sufyān transmitted citing Salamah ibn Kuhayl … ?” asked Wakīʿ, reciting the Hadith.

— Sim — disse Aḥmad. — Ouvimos Yaḥyā relatar — mencionando o transmissor.

“Yes,” said Aḥmad. “We heard Yaḥyā report,” giving the transmitter.

"E quanto a Salamah sobre tal e tal coisa?" "Ouvimos ʿAbd al-Raḥmān relatar", disse Aḥmad.

“What about Salamah on such-and-such?” “We heard ʿAbd al-Raḥmān report,” said Aḥmad.

“E quanto a Sufyān, por meio de Salamah, sobre tal e tal coisa?” “Ouvimos isso de você.” E assim continuaram até terem percorrido todos os relatos transmitidos por Salamah. Então Aḥmad perguntou: “Você conhece o relato de Salamah sobre … ?”, e mencionou o Hadith.

“What about Sufyān from Salamah on such and-such?” “We heard that from you.” And so they continued until they had covered all of the reports transmitted by Salamah. Then Aḥmad asked: “Do you know Salamah’s report about … ?” giving the Hadith.

"Não", disse Wakīʿ.

“No,” said Wakīʿ.

Aḥmad então começou a perguntar sobre um relato após outro. Cada vez, Wakīʿ ficava sem resposta. Aḥmad percorreu, um por um, os relatos dos outros grandes transmissores.

Aḥmad then began asking about one report after another. Each time, Wakīʿ was stumped. Aḥmad went through the reports of the other major transmitters one by one.

Ele ainda estava de pé ali quando a serva apareceu e disse: "A estrela da manhã" — ou "Vênus" — "já surgiu!" [Aḥmad:] Wakīʿ costumava recitar relatos que tinham todos a mesma cadeia de transmissores, como se os tivesse memorizado todos dessa forma. À noite, eu costumava memorizar dez ou quinze deles.53 8.9

He was still standing there when the servant girl appeared and said, “The morning star”—or “Venus”—“is up!” [Aḥmad:] Wakīʿ used to recite reports that all had the same chain of transmitters, as if he had memorized them all that way. At night I used to commit ten or fifteen of them to memory.53 8.9

[ʿAbd Allāh:] Meu pai costumava me dizer: “Pegue qualquer um dos livros da coleção de Wakīʿ e me diga o que qualquer relato diz, e eu te direi a cadeia de transmissores.

[ʿAbd Allāh:] My father used to tell me, “Take any of the books of Wakīʿ’s collection and tell me what any report says and I’ll tell you the chain of transmitters.

"Ou me diga a cadeia de transmissão e eu lhe direi o que o relato diz."54 8.10

Or tell me the chain and I’ll tell you what the report says.”54 8.10