Watoto wa Aḥmad waliripoti kwamba watu wengi, wakiwemo baadhi ya wanaume wema ambao walikuwa wamefichaa utambulisho wao, walikuja kutoa salamu zao za rambirambi. Bila kutumia muda mwingi kwenye mada hii, nitatoa baadhi ya simulizi maarufu zaidi. 89.1

Aḥmad’s children reported that many people, including certain righteous men who had kept their identities a secret, came to offer their condolences. Without spending too much time on the subject, I will present a few of the more famous accounts. 89.1

[Ibn Abī Ḥātim:] Tulisikia Ṣāliḥ, mwana wa Aḥmad, akisimulia: 89.2

[Ibn Abī Ḥātim:] We heard Aḥmad’s son Ṣāliḥ report: 89.2

Siku chache baada ya baba yangu kufariki, Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṭāhir alipokea barua kutoka kwa al-Mutawakkil ikimwamuru amtembelee kutoa pole na kuchukua vitabu. Lakini mimi nilikusanya vitabu kwanza nikamwambia, “Hadithi zote tulizowahi kuzisikia ziko humu. Ukizihitaji, kaa hapa uzinakili.”482

A few days after my father died, Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṭāhir received a letter from al-Mutawakkil ordering him to pay us a visit of condolence and to carry off the books. But I gathered up the books first and told him, “All of the reports we’ve ever heard are in here. If you want them, stay here and copy them.”482

"Nitamwambia khalifa," alisema.

“I’ll tell the caliph,” he said.

[Ibn Abī Ḥātim:] Ṣāliḥ aliendelea kumwahirisha, na vitabu vikabaki mikononi mwetu, shukrani kwa Mungu! [Ṣāliḥ:] Mmoja wa marafiki zangu aliniandikia barua hii ya rambirambi: 89.3

[Ibn Abī Ḥātim:] Ṣāliḥ kept putting him off and the books stayed in our hands, thank God! [Ṣāliḥ:] One of my friends wrote me this letter of condolence: 89.3

Kwa jina la Mungu, Mwingi wa rehema, Mwenye huruma daima, Mwenye nguvu na utukufu, ameamua kwamba mauti yawakumbe wanadamu wote kwa usawa, akiwahukumu viumbe Wake kwa muda uliowekwa hadi hatima itakapowachukua wote. Sasa anainama kwa hukumu ya Mungu Abū ʿAbd Allāh—Mungu amrehemu!—ambaye Yeye amemwita kwake. Akikubali karibisho la Mungu kwa moyo wa radhi, alikuja bila kasoro kama daima, safi, hana doa, imara katika Sunna, asiyekosea, mwongofu, asiyeondoka katika njia ya uongofu mwema, asiyeyumbishwa na matamanio, na jasiri wakati wa mashaka, hadi Mungu alipomkaribisha karibu Naye. Na wote wautamani neema aliyoipata; ingawa kumpoteza kunaleta huzuni kali inayouma moyo sana, nakufariji wewe na Waislamu wengine wowote wanaosoma barua hii, kwa kukukumbusha baraka, rehema na ishara za Mungu zilizoahidiwa kwa wale wanaotafakari vizuri, wanaovumilia kwa muda mrefu, na wanaokubali kwa moyo mwema hatima aliyoipangia kila kitu alichokiumba. Nakukumbusha kwamba ametuacha kwa namna bora kabisa: akiwa na akili timamu, mwenye kujiamini katika uongofu wa Mungu, na asiyetetereka katika ujasiri na azma yake. Dunia ilimfuata lakini yeye aliikataa, wala hakukubali lawama alipojitetea kwa ajili ya Mungu; kifo chake kimeacha kovu lililochanika moyoni mwa Uislamu.

In the name of God, full of compassion, ever-compassionate God, mighty and glorious, has decreed that death deal impartially with humankind, dooming His creatures to a finite span until fate comes to claim them all. Bowing now to God’s decree is Abū ʿAbd Allāh—may God have mercy on him!—whom He has summoned to Himself. Accepting God’s welcome with a willing heart, he came faultless as always, unsullied, and immaculate, firm in tradition, inerrant, and guiding aright, unswerving from the path of good guidance, unswayed by caprice, and dauntless in adversity, until God drew him close to Himself. Let all aspire to the grace that he has gained; and though losing him brings a wrenching grief that bites deep into the heart, and I console you and any other Muslim who reads this letter by reminding you of God’s promised blessings, mercies, and signs vouchsafed to those who ponder well, suffer long, and submit with good grace to the fate God has decreed for all things He has made. I remind you that he left us in the best possible way: present in mind, confident of God’s guidance, and unshaken in his courage and resolve. The world pursued him but he spurned it, and he brooked no rebuke when he stood up for God; his passing leaves a ragged scar on the heart of Islam.

Naomba kwa Mwenyezi Mungu, Mtoaji mkarimu wa fadhila zake, amrehemu Muhammad, mtumishi wake na mjumbe wake; na amjaalie Ahmad malipo yasiyopungua yale anayowapa mmoja wa marafiki wa Mungu aliowaumba kwa ajili ya kumtumikia. Amwinue cheo chake, amtukuze hadhi yake, na amketishe miongoni mwa Manabii, Wakweli, Mashahidi na Waja wema – marafiki wema kweli! Namwomba Mwenyezi Mungu akupe nguvu, na thawabu iliyoahidiwa kwa wenye nguvu; na akupe ile yakini inayotoa thawabu iliyoahidiwa kwa wale wanaoishi imani yao kikamilifu. Namwomba Yeye, kwa kuwa Yeye ndiye chemchemi ya baraka zote, mtoaji wa mema yote, na Yule ambaye kwake hakuna lisilowezekana.

I pray to God, who gives freely of His bounty, to bless Muḥammad, His servant and Emissary; and to grant Aḥmad no lesser reward than that He grants to any of the allies He has created to serve Him. May He raise him in rank, exalt him in standing, and seat him among the prophets, the truth-tellers, the martyrs, and the saints—goodly companions all! I ask God to give you strength, and the reward promised to the strong; and grant you that certainty that confers the reward promised to those who live out their faith. I ask Him, for He is the fount of all blessing, the dispenser of all good things, and the One for whom nothing is impossible.

[Al-Ṣūfī:] Usiku tulipomzika Abū ʿAbd Allāh, mmoja wa wanazuoni wetu, mtu mwema na mwenye elimu aitwaye Abū Jaʿfar, aliniuliza, “Je, unajua ni nani aliyezikwa leo?” 89.4

[Al-Ṣūfī:] The night we buried Abū ʿAbd Allāh, one of our scholars—a kindly, learned man named Abū Jaʿfar—asked me, “Do you know who was buried today?” 89.4

"Nani?" "Wa sita kati ya watano." "Unamaanisha nini?" "Wa kwanza ni Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq," alisema. "Wa pili alikuwa ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb.

“Who?” “The sixth of five.” “What do you mean?” “The first is Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq,” he said. “The second was ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb.

ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān alikuwa wa tatu, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib wa nne, ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz wa tano, na sasa tuna wa sita: Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal.” Nilifurahishwa na kauli yake hiyo. Alichomaanisha ni kwamba kila mmoja wao alikuwa mkuu zaidi katika zama zake.

ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān was the third, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib the fourth, ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al- ʿAzīz the fifth, and now we have a sixth: Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal.” I appreciated his saying that. What he meant was that each man was the greatest in his own time.