[ʿAbd Allāh:] Siku moja nilimwona baba yangu akiwatisha chungu na kuwaomba waondoke nyumbani kwake. Waliondoka kwa wingi mkubwa wa giza, wala hawakurudi tena. 61.1

[ʿAbd Allāh:] Once I saw my father threaten some ants and ask them to leave his house. They left in a great dark mass and never returned. 61.1

[Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī l-Simsār:] Usiku mmoja Aḥmad alienda nyumbani kwa Ṣāliḥ kwa sababu mwana wa Ṣāliḥ alikuwa anavuja damu puani. Madaktari313 walikuwa wamekuja na walikuwa wakimtibu kwa mshita na mengineyo,314 lakini damu ilikuwa inatoka kwa kasi mno. 61.2

[Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī l-Simsār:] One night Aḥmad went over to Ṣaliḥ’s house because Ṣaliḥ’s son was bleeding from the nose. The doctors313 had come and were treating him with acacia and so on,314 but the blood was coming too fast. 61.2

"Kuna nini, mwanangu?" alisema Aḥmad.

“What’s wrong, son?” said Aḥmad.

“Babu, nitakufa!” alisema yule kijana. “Muombee Mungu kwa ajili yangu.” “Utakuwa sawa,” alisema Aḥmad. Alisogeza mkono wake kana kwamba anamwombea, na damu ikakoma. Hii ilitokea baada ya kila mtu kuwa amekwisha kumkatia tamaa yule kijana, kwa kuwa alikuwa akivuja damu bila kukoma.

“Grandpa, I’m going to die!” said the boy. “Call to God for me.” “You’ll be all right,” said Aḥmad. He moved a hand as if praying for him and the blood stopped. This was after everyone had given the boy up for dead, since he had been bleeding continuously.

[Abū Ṭālib:] Siku moja nilikuwa nikiandika kwa kuamriwa na Aḥmad, kalamu yangu ikavunjika. Akanipa moja ya kwake. Baadaye nilimwonyesha Abū ʿAlī l-Jaʿfarī, nikamwambia kwamba ni kalamu ambayo Aḥmad alinipa. Akamwambia mtumishi wake: "Chukua hii, uiweke juu ya mtende; tuone kama itauzalisha." 61.3

[Abū Ṭālib:] Once I was taking dictation from Aḥmad and my pen snapped. He gave me one of his own. Later I showed it to Abū ʿAlī l-Jaʿfarī, telling him that it was a pen that Aḥmad had given me. “Take it,” he told his serving boy, “and lay it on the palm tree: let’s see if that will fertilize it.” 61.3

Mvulana alifanya alichoambiwa, na mti ukazaa matunda.

The boy did as he was asked and the tree grew fruit.

[Al-ʿAbbās ibn Muḥammad:] Mmoja wa majirani zangu, mtu aitwaye ʿAlī ibn Abī Ḥarārah, aliniambia hadithi hii. 61.4

[Al-ʿAbbās ibn Muḥammad:] One of my neighbors, a man named ʿAlī ibn Abī Ḥarārah, told me this story. 61.4

"Mama yangu alikuwa hawezi kutembea kwa karibu miaka ishirini. Siku moja alisema, 'Nenda ukamwombe Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal amwombe Mungu kwa ajili yangu.' Nilienda nyumbani kwake nikagonga mlango. Alikuwa kwenye chumba cha mbele lakini hakufungua."

“My mother had been unable to walk for almost twenty years. One day she said, ‘Go ask Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal to pray to God for me.’ “I went to his house and knocked on the door. He was in the anteroom but he didn’t open up.

"Ni nani?" alisema kwa sauti.

“‘Who is it?’ he called out.

"Nilimwambia kwamba ninaishi katika mtaa huo na mama yangu ni mgonjwa aliyelemaa asiyeweza kutembea, na nilitaka aombe dua kwa ajili yake. Kupitia mlangoni akaja jibu la hasira: 'Ndiye anayepaswa kuniombea mimi!' Nikageuka na kuondoka. Nilipokuwa ninaondoka, mzee mmoja wa kike alitoka nyumbani na kusema, 'Je, wewe ndiye uliyekuwa unazungumza na Abū ʿAbd Allāh?' 'Ndiyo.' 'Nimemsikia tu akimwombea.' Nilikimbia nyumbani. Nilipogonga mlango, mama yangu alitoka akitembea kwa miguu yake mwenyewe ili kufungua, akisema, 'Mungu amenipa uponyaji!'" [Ibrāhīm ibn Hāniʾ]: Fulani mfumaji, aliyekuwa akipangisha kutoka kwa Abū ʿAbd Allāh, aliniambia: "Siku moja nilipokuwa mgonjwa nilikuwa ninaugua usiku kucha. Katikati ya usiku Aḥmad alitoka na kusema, 'Ni nani anayeugua huko?'" 61.5

“I told him I lived in the neighborhood and my mother was an invalid who couldn’t walk and wanted him to pray for her. Through the door came an angry reply: ‘She’s the one who should be praying for me!’ “I turned away. As I was leaving an old woman came out of the house and said, ‘Are you the one who was talking to Abū ʿAbd Allāh?’ “‘Yes.’ “‘I just heard him praying for her.’ “I rushed home. When I knocked on the door, my mother came out walking on her own two feet to open it, saying, ‘God cured me!’” [Ibrāhīm ibn Hāniʾ]: So-and-So the weaver, who rented from Abū ʿAbd Allāh, told me: “Once when I was sick I kept moaning all night. In the middle of the night Aḥmad came out and said, ‘Who’s that in pain over there?’ 61.5

“Wamemwambia, naye akaniombea dua. ‘Ee Mungu, mponye!’ alisema, kisha akarudi ndani. Maumivu yalikoma ghafla, kama vile mtu amemwagia maji moto uliokuwa unawaka.” [Fāṭimah:] Ndugu yangu Ṣāliḥ alipata moto nyumbani kwake. Alikuwa ameoa katika familia tajiri ambayo ilituma mahari inayoonekana kuwa na thamani ya dirhamu elfu nne, lakini yote yaliteketea kwa moto. Ṣāliḥ alisema, “Ninachojali ni kupoteza vazi ambalo baba yangu alikuwa akivaa alipokuwa akiswali. Nilipenda kulivaa kwa ajili ya baraka na kuswali nikiwa nimelivaa.” 61.6

“They told him, and he prayed for me. ‘God, cure him!’ he said, and went back inside. The pain suddenly stopped, as if someone had poured water on a fire.” [Fāṭimah:] My brother Ṣāliḥ had a fire in his house. He’d married into a wealthy family who sent over a dowry that looked like it was worth four thousand dirhams, but all of it went up in smoke. Ṣāliḥ said, “All I care about is losing the robe that my father used to wear when he prayed. I liked to put it on for a blessing and pray in it.” 61.6

Moto ulipozimwa, walirudi ndani. Kitandani walikuta lile vazi.

When the fire was put out, they went back in. On the bed they found the robe.

Kila kitu kilichokuwa karibu nayo kilikuwa kimeteketea kwa moto, lakini vazi lile lilibaki salama.

Everything around it had burned up but the robe was unharmed.

[Mwandishi:] Nilisikia hadithi kama hii kutoka kwa jaji mkuu, ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Zaynabī. Nyumba yake iliungua moto, na kila kitu ndani yake kiliteketea isipokuwa kitabu kimoja kilichokuwa na baadhi ya maandishi ya Aḥmad. 61.7

[The author:] I heard a similar story from the chief judge, ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn al- Zaynabī. He had a fire and everything in the house burned up except a book that had some of Aḥmad’s writing in it. 61.7

Kwa upande wangu, wakati Baghdad ilipofurika mwaka 554 [1159–60] na vitabu vyangu viliharibika, kitu kimoja kilichosalimika ni juzuu moja iliyokuwa na karatasi mbili kwa mkono wa Aḥmad.

As for myself, when Baghdad was flooded in 554 [1159–60] and my books were ruined, one thing that was spared was a volume containing two sheets in Aḥmad’s handwriting.

[Al-Lakkāf:] ʿAbd Allāh ibn Mūsā, ambaye alikuwa Sunni mzuri, aliniambia: "Usiku mmoja wa giza, baba yangu na mimi tulitoka kwenda kumtembelea Aḥmad, lakini giza likawa zito mno kiasi cha kutoona. Baba yangu akasema, 'Na tumwombe Mwenyezi Mungu, tukiomba kwa jina la Aḥmad, mja wake mwema, atuangazie njia yetu. Kwa miaka thelathini, kila nilichomwomba kwa jina lake kimenijibiwa.' Baba yangu akaomba, nami nikasema 'Amin.' Anga likawaka kana kwamba ni usiku wa mwezi, na likaendelea hivyo mpaka tulipofika." 61.8

[Al-Lakkāf:] ʿAbd Allāh ibn Mūsā, who was a good Sunni, told me: “One dark night, my father and I went out to visit Aḥmad, but it got too dark to see. My father said, ‘Let’s call on God, invoking His righteous servant Aḥmad, and ask Him to light our way. For thirty years, everything I’ve asked for in his name has been granted.’ My father prayed and I said ‘Amen.’ The sky lit up as if it were a moonlit night and stayed that way until we arrived.” 61.8

[Al-Rāzī:] Kikundi chetu kilimsindikiza Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal hadi lango la al-Mutawakkil. Aliingizwa kupitia Lango la Maswahiba wa Karibu, lakini kabla ya kuingia, alisema, "Nyote mnaweza kurudi sasa. Mungu awape afya njema!" 61.9

[Al-Rāzī:] A group of us accompanied Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal as far as al- Mutawakkil’s gate. He was admitted at the Intimates’ Gate, but before going in, he said, “All of you can go back now. May God keep you in health!” 61.9

Tangu siku hiyo, hakuna hata mmoja wetu aliyeugua.

Since that day, not one of us has fallen ill.