[ʿAbd Allāh:] Baba yangu alikuwa na uwezo wa kuvumilia upweke kuliko mtu yeyote. Bishr,288 ingawa alikuwa mkubwa hivyo, hakuweza kustahimili kuwa peke yake: alikuwa akitoka kwenda kuwatembelea watu, saa moja hapa, saa moja pale. 54.1

[ʿAbd Allāh:] My father could bear solitude better than anyone. Bishr,288 great as he was, couldn’t stand to be alone: he would go out visiting an hour here, an hour there. 54.1

[ʿAbd Allāh:] Mahali pekee ambapo watu walimwona baba yangu ni msikitini, kwenye msiba, au nyumbani kwa mtu aliyeugua. Alichukia kutembea katika masoko. 54.2

[ʿAbd Allāh:] The only places anyone saw my father were in the mosque, at a funeral, or at the home of someone taken ill. He hated walking through the markets. 54.2

[ʿAbd Allāh:] Baba yangu alikuwa na uwezo wa kuvumilia upweke kuliko mtu yeyote. Mahali pekee ambapo watu walimuona ni msikitini, katika msiba, au nyumbani kwa mtu aliyeugua.

[ʿAbd Allāh:] My father could bear solitude better than anyone. The only places anyone saw him were in the mosque, at a funeral, or at the home of someone taken ill.

Alikuwa akichukia kutembea katikati ya masoko. 54.3

He hated walking through the markets. 54.3

[Fatḥ ibn Nūḥ:] Nilimsikia Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal akisema, “Natamani jambo ambalo sitalipata kamwe: mahali pasipokuwa na mtu hata mmoja.” 54.4

[Fatḥ ibn Nūḥ:] I heard Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal say, “I wish for something I’ll never have: a place with no one in it at all.” 54.4

[Al-Marrūdhī:] Aḥmad aliniambia, “Sijali kama sikumwona mtu yeyote na wala hakuna mtu aliyeniona—ingawa ningemkosa ʿAbd al-Wahhāb.”289 54.5

[Al-Marrūdhī:] Aḥmad said to me, “I don’t care if I never saw anyone and no one saw me—though I would miss ʿAbd al-Wahhāb.”289 54.5

Al-Maymūnī: Ibn Ḥanbal alisema, "Nimeona kuwa kuwa peke yangu ni rahisi zaidi kwangu." 54.6

[Al-Maymūnī:] Ibn Ḥanbal said, “I’ve found that being alone is easier for me.” 54.6

[Al-Iṣfahānī:] Nilikuwa siku moja mlangoni kwa Aḥmad nikingoja ruhusa ya kuingia ndani.

[Al-Iṣfahānī:] I was once at Aḥmad’s door waiting to be given permission to go in.

Wakati fulani mwanawe ʿAbd Allāh alijitokeza. Mtu mmoja aliyekuwepo akamwambia, "Mwambie baba yako kwamba So-and-So amefariki, na tunamchukua kumpeleka makaburini alasiri hii." 54.7

At one point his son ʿAbd Allāh appeared. A man who was there said to him, “Tell your father that So-and-So died and we’re carrying him to the cemetery this afternoon.” 54.7

ʿAbd Allāh aliingia ndani, kisha akatoka tena, akamwambia mtu huyo, "Nilimwambia. Alimwomba Mwenyezi Mungu amrehemu marehemu na akamwombea. Lakini hapendi kutoka nje watu wanapojua kwamba anakuja, kwa sababu atavutia umati wa watu." [Al-Musayyabī:] Mara moja nilimwambia Aḥmad, "Ningependa kukutembelea na kukutolea heshima zangu, lakini ninaogopa kwamba hutapenda nifanye hivyo."290 54.8

ʿAbd Allāh went in, came out again, and said to the man, “I told him. He asked for God’s mercy on the deceased and prayed for him. But he doesn’t like to go out when people know he’s coming because he’ll draw a crowd.” [Al-Musayyabī:] I once said to Aḥmad, “I’d like to visit you and pay my respects, but I’m afraid you wouldn’t want me to.”290 54.8

"Sipendi aina hiyo ya mambo," alisema.

“I don’t like that sort of thing,” he said.

[Al-Marrūdhī:] Nilimpendekeza kwa Aḥmad siku moja kwamba akutane na ʿAbd al-Wahhāb. 54.9

[Al-Marrūdhī:] I once suggested to Aḥmad that he meet up with ʿAbd al- Wahhāb. 54.9

"Je, si baadhi ya wacha Mungu hawakuepuka mikutano?" alisema. Kisha akaongeza, "Yeye angejitahidi kuwa mwenye ukarimu kwangu na mimi kwake. Hapana, upweke ni mwalimu bora zaidi."

“Didn’t some of the pious avoid meetings?” he said. Then he added, “He would make an effort to be pleasant with me and I with him. No, solitude is a better teacher.

"Mwenye ufahamu wa kweli anamcha Mungu."291

The one with true understanding fears God.”291

Nilipata kusikia Aḥmad akisema, "Nataka kwenda Makkah na kujitupa katika moja ya mabonde yale ambako hakuna atakayenipata kamwe."

I once heard Aḥmad say, “I want to go down to Mecca and throw myself into one of those ravines where no one will ever find me.”