[Al-Būshanjī:] Mwaka wa 227 [842], Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal alifundisha Hadithi hadharani mjini Baghdad. Hilo lilitokea mara tu baada ya kufariki kwa al-Muʿtaṣim. Tulikuwa Kufa tulipopata habari hizo. Nilirudi Baghdad na kumkuta katika mwezi wa Rajab wa mwaka huo, bado akifundisha. Kisha, siku tatu zikiwa zimebaki katika mwezi wa Shaʿbān, alisimama mwenyewe kwa hiari yake. Mamlaka haikuwa imemwambia asimame, lakini al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Jaʿd, ambaye wakati huo alikuwa kadhi wa Baghdad, alikuwa amemwandikia Ibn Abī Duʾād kumjulisha kwamba Aḥmad alikuwa akifundisha Hadithi hadharani. Aḥmad alipopata habari hizi, alisimama bila kulazimishwa.

[Al-Būshanjī:] In ’27 [842], Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal taught Hadith openly in Baghdad. That was right after al-Muʿtaṣim died. We were in Kufa when we heard the news. I headed back to Baghdad and caught up with him in Rajab of that year, while he was still teaching. Then, with three days left in Shaʿbān, he stopped of his own accord. The authorities hadn’t told him to stop, but al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Jaʿd, who was then judge in Baghdad, had written to Ibn Abī Duʾād to tell him that Aḥmad was openly teaching Hadith. When Aḥmad learned of this, he stopped without having to be asked.