[Al-Marrūdhī:] Nilisikia hili kutoka kwa mwanaume mmoja huko Tarsus. 88.1

[Al-Marrūdhī:] I heard this from a man in Tarsus. 88.1

"Mimi natoka Yemen, na nina binti ambaye alipagawa. Nilileta waganga wa kuondoa majini ambao walimtoa jini lake na kulifanya liahidi kutorudi. Lakini mwaka mmoja baadaye likarudi."

“I’m from Yemen, and I have a daughter who was possessed. I brought in some exorcists who drove out her jinni and made it promise not to return. But then a year later it came back.

"'Hukuahidi kutorudi tena?' niliuliza."

“‘Didn’t you promise not to come back?’ I asked.

"Nilifanya," akasema jini. "Lakini mtu aitwaye Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal amefariki huko Iraq, na majini wote—isipokuwa mashetani, kama mimi—wameenda kumswalia. Lakini sitarudi tena." Hakurudi kamwe. Hadithi hii imetufikia pia kwa simulizi nyingine.

“‘I did,’ said the jinni. ‘But a man named Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal has died in Iraq and all the jinns—except for the demons, like me—have gone to pray over him. But I won’t be back again.’ “He never returned.” This story has also come down to us in another telling.

[Abū Muḥammad al-Yamānī:] Nilipokuwa Yemen, mtu mmoja aliniambia kwamba binti yake alikuwa amepagawa na pepo. Basi nikamchukua hadi kwa mmoja wa waganga wa kutoa pepo wa Kiyemeni, ambaye alimtoa jini wake na kumfanya aahidi kutorudi. Lakini takriban miezi sita baadaye baba yake alinijia akasema kwamba pepo huyo amerudi. 88.2

[Abū Muḥammad al-Yamānī:] When I was in Yemen, a man told me that his daughter had been possessed by a demon. So I took him to one of our Yemeni exorcists, who drove out her jinni and made it promise not to return. But then about six months later her father came to me and said the demon had returned. 88.2

"Rudi kwa yule mfukuza pepo," nilisema.

“Go back to the exorcist,” I said.

Kwa hiyo akarudi. Mtoa-pepo alimtoa jini na kumfanya azungumze.

So he went back. The exorcist drew out the jinni and got it talking.

“Aibu kwako!” alisema mtoa pepo. “Je, hukuahidi kumwacha peke yake?” “Niliahidi,” alisema jini. “Lakini tumesikia kwamba Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal amefariki. Majini yote mema yameenda kumwombolezea, nasi mashetani kama mimi tunawafuata nyuma.” [Al-Khallāl:] Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Maḥmūd aliniambia yafuatayo: 88.3

“Shame on you!” said the exorcist. “Didn’t you promise to leave her alone?” “I did,” said the jinni. “But we’ve heard that Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal is dead. All the righteous jinns have gone to mourn him, and the demons like me are tagging along behind.” [Al-Khallāl:] Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Maḥmūd told me the following: 88.3

Nilikuwa nikirudi kutoka Sind kwa meli. Wakati mmoja niliamka usiku na kusikia sauti ikiita kutoka baharini: "Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, mja mwaminifu wa Mungu, amekufa!" "Ilikuwa nini hiyo?" nilimuuliza mmoja wa abiria wengine melini.

I was on my way back from Sind on board ship. At one point I woke up in the night and heard a voice calling from the sea, “Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, the faithful servant of God, is dead!” “What was that?” I asked one of the others on board.

"Huyo alikuwa jini mwema." Baadaye tulijifunza kwamba Aḥmad alikuwa amefariki usiku ule.

“That was a righteous jinni.” We later learned that Aḥmad had died that night.

[Al-Khallāl:] Pia nilisikia kwamba Abū Zurʿah alisema kwamba huko alikotoka Khurasan, majini yalitangaza kifo cha Aḥmad siku arobaini kabla hakijatokea.

[Al-Khallāl:] I also heard that Abū Zurʿah said that where he was from in Khurasan, the jinns announced Aḥmad’s death forty days before it happened.

Nilisikia pia Ṣāliḥ, mwana wa Aḥmad, akisema: "Siku arobaini baada ya baba yangu kufariki, wakati kila mtu alikuwa ameshalala, familia yangu ilisema ilisikia kilio cha kuomboleza, tofauti kabisa na sauti yoyote ambayo binadamu angeweza kutoa, kikitoka nyumbani kwa baba yangu."

I also heard Aḥmad’s son Ṣāliḥ say, “Forty days after my father died, after everyone had gone to bed, my family said they heard a sobbing, unlike any sound a human would make, coming from my father’s house.”