Ṣāliḥ, ambaye aliitwa Abū l-Faḍl, alikuwa mkubwa zaidi wa watoto wa Aḥmad. Alizaliwa mwaka 203 [818–19]. Baba yake alimpenda na alimtendea kwa ukarimu. Kwa kuwa alikuwa na watoto wengi tangu akiwa bado kijana, Ṣāliḥ hakuweza kupokea hadithi nyingi za baba yake kama angeweza, ingawa bado alipokea nyingi, pamoja na hadithi alizojifunza kutoka kwa Abū l-Walīd al-Ṭayālisī, Ibrāhīm ibn al-Faḍl al-Dhāriʿ (mpimaji wa vipimo),328 na ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī. Waliopokea kutoka kwake nao walikuwa mwanawe Zuhayr, al-Baghawī, na Muḥammad ibn Makhlad, miongoni mwa wengine. Alihamia Isfahan baada ya kuteuliwa kuwa kadhi huko, na huko ndiko alikofariki. 65.1

Ṣālih, who was called Abū l-Faḍl, was the oldest of Aḥmad’s children. He was born in 203 [818–19]. His father loved him and treated him generously. Burdened with children when he was still young, Ṣāliḥ was unable to transmit as many of his father’s reports as he might have, though he still transmitted quite a few, along with reports he learned from Abū l-Walīd al-Ṭayālisī, Ibrāhīm ibn al-Faḍl al-Dhāriʿ (the taker of measures),328 and ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī. Transmitting in turn from him were his son Zuhayr, al-Baghawī, and Muḥammad ibn Makhlad, among others. He moved to Isfahan after being appointed judge there, and there he died. 65.1

[Al-Khallāl:] Ṣāliḥ alikuwa daima na hamu ya kutumia fedha. Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī l-Faqīh aliniambia huko Miṣṣīṣah kwamba Ṣāliḥ aliwahi kutolewa damu kisha baadaye akawaalika marafiki zake kusherehekea kupona kwake. Lazima alitumia dinari ishirini kwa manukato na mambo kama hayo. 65.2

[Al-Khallāl:] Ṣāliḥ was always eager to spend money. Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī l-Faqīh told me in Miṣṣīṣah that Ṣāliḥ once had his blood let and afterward invited his friends to celebrate his recovery. He must have spent twenty dinars on scent and that sort of thing. 65.2

Nadhani pia ni al-Ḥasan aliyeniambia yafuatayo.

I think it was also al-Ḥasan who told me the following.

Wakati fulani Aḥmad aligonga mlango. Mmoja wa wageni, Ibn Abī Maryam, akamwambia Ṣāliḥ, "Shusha pazia hilo ili tusipate matatizo kwa sababu ya baba yako! Na usimruhusu anuse harufu hiyo!" Aḥmad aliingia, akaketi, kisha akamwuliza Ṣāliḥ anajisikiaje. Kisha akasema, "Chukua hizi dirhamu mbili, uzitumie kwa ajili yako mwenyewe leo." Baada ya hapo akainuka na kuondoka.

At one point Aḥmad knocked on the door. One of the guests, Ibn Abī Maryam, said to Ṣāliḥ, “Let down that curtain so we don’t get in trouble with your father! And don’t let him smell the scent!” Aḥmad came in, sat down, and asked Ṣāliḥ how he was feeling. Then he said, “Here, take these two dirhams and spend them on yourself today.” With that, he got up and left.

"Wewe fulani!" alisema Ibn Abī Maryam kwa Ṣāliḥ. "Umewezaje kufikiri kuchukua zile dirhamu?" [Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī:] Nilikuwa pamoja na Ṣāliḥ alipofika Isfahan. Mahali pa kwanza alipoenda ni msikiti wa Ijumaa, ambapo alisali rakaa mbili. Kisha, wakati wakubwa na wazee walipokusanyika, alikaa chini ili kusikiliza barua ya uteuzi aliyokuwa amepewa na khalifa. Barua ilipokuwa ikisomwa, alianza kulia bila kujizuia. Punde si punde wazee waliokaa karibu naye nao walianza kulia. Usomaji ulipomalizika, waliomba dua kwa sauti kwa ajili yake. "Kila mtu katika mji wetu anathamini kumbukumbu ya Abū ʿAbd Allāh," walimwambia, "na anakutakia mema." 65.3

“You so-and-so!” said Ibn Abī Maryam to Ṣāliḥ. “How could you think of taking those dirhams?” [Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī:] I was with Ṣāliḥ when he arrived in Isfahan. The first place he went was the Friday mosque, where he prayed two cycles. Then, when the notables and elders had gathered, he sat down to hear the letter of appointment that the caliph had given him. As the letter was being read he began to weep uncontrollably. Soon the elders sitting near him were weeping as well. When the reading was finished, they prayed aloud for him. “Everyone in our town treasures the memory of Abū ʿAbd Allāh,” they told him, “and wishes you the best.” 65.3

“Mnajua,” aliwauliza, “kwa nini ninalia? Nilikuwa nikiwaza baba yangu akiniona nikiwa hivi”—yaani, nimevaa vazi jeusi la cheo changu. “Kila mara mtawa mnyenyekevu alipokuja kumtembelea baba yangu, baba yangu alinituma nikaonane naye. Alitaka niwe kama yeye—au nionekane kama yeye. Kwa Mungu ni shahidi wangu, sikuwa na chaguo ila kukubali cheo hiki: nina deni la kulipa na watoto wote wa baba yangu wa kuwalisha.”329

“Do you know,” he asked them, “why I’m crying? I imagined my father seeing me like this”—dressed, that is, in the black robes of his office. “Whenever a shabby ascetic would come to visit him, my father would send for me so I could meet him. He wanted me to be like that—or look like that. As God is my witness, I had no choice but to take this position: I have a debt to pay and all my father’s children to feed.”329

Mara kadhaa, alipotoka katika kikao cha mahakama na kuvua vazi lake jeusi, Ṣāliḥ aliniambia, "Fikiria tu: naweza kufa nikiwa nimevaa nguo hizi!" Ṣāliḥ alifariki katika mwezi wa Ramadhani 265 [Aprili–Mei 879] huko Isfahan.

More than once, as he left the judicial session and removed his black robe, Ṣāliḥ said to me, “Just think: I might die in these clothes!” Ṣāliḥ died in Ramaḍān 265 [April–May 879] in Isfahan.

Mwanawe Zuhayr alisimulia hadithi kutoka kwake, na simulizi za Zuhayr nazo zilipokewa na mpwawe Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Ṣālih, na Aḥmad ibn Sulaymān al-Najjād. Al-Dāraquṭnī alimweleza Zuhayr kuwa mwaminifu. Kwa mujibu wa Qadhi Aḥmad ibn Kāmil, alifariki dunia katika mwezi wa Rabīʿ I mwaka 303 [Septemba–Oktoba 915]. 65.4

His son Zuhayr transmitted reports from him, and Zuhayr’s reports, in turn, were transmitted by his nephew Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Ṣālih and by Aḥmad ibn Sulaymān al-Najjād. Al-Dāraquṭnī describes Zuhayr as reliable. According to Judge Aḥmad ibn Kāmil, he died in Rabīʿ I 303 [September–October 915]. 65.4

Aliitwa Abū Jaʿfar, alisimulia hadithi alizojifunza kutoka kwa baba yake, kutoka kwa mjomba wake Zuhayr, na kutoka kwa Ibrāhīm ibn Khālid al-Hisinjānī, miongoni mwa wengineo. Akimsimulia yeye alikuwa al-Dāraquṭnī. Alifariki mwaka 330 [941–42]. 65.5

Called Abū Jaʿfar, he transmitted reports he learned from his father, his uncle Zuhayr, and Ibrāhīm ibn Khālid al-Hisinjānī, among others. Transmitting in turn from him was al-Dāraquṭnī. He died in 330 [941–42]. 65.5

Aliitwa Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān. Alisimulia riwaya nyingi zaidi za baba yake kuliko mtu mwingine yeyote, kwani alisikia sehemu kubwa ya makusanyo yake na Hadith zake. Pia alipokea riwaya kutoka kwa ʿAbd al-Aʿlā ibn Ḥammād, Kāmil ibn Ṭalḥah, Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn, wana wa Abū Shaybah, Abū Bakr na ʿUthman, Shaybān ibn Farrūkh, na wengine wengi. 65.6

Called Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, he transmitted more of his father’s reports than anyone else, having heard most of his compilations and his Hadith. He also heard reports from ʿAbd al-Aʿlā ibn Ḥammād, Kāmil ibn Ṭalḥah, Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn, Abū Shaybah’s sons Abū Bakr and ʿUthman, Shaybān ibn Farrūkh, and many others. 65.6

Alikuwa na kumbukumbu imara sana. Baba yake alikuwa akisema, "Mwanangu ʿAbd Allāh ana kipaji cha kujifunza"—au "kukariri"—"Hadith." Katika ugonjwa wake wa mwisho, aliulizwa mahali anapotaka kuzikwa. Alijibu, "Nina hakika kwamba nabii fulani amezikwa mahali fulani katika Qaṭīʿah, na ningependa kuwa karibu na nabii kuliko karibu na baba yangu." Alifariki Jumapili, tarehe ishirini na moja ya Jumādā II 290 [22 Mei 903], na mwishoni mwa alasiri alizikwa katika makaburi ya Lango la Majani. Mpwa wake Zuhayr aliswalia jeneza lake huku umati mkubwa wa watu ukihudhuria.

He had a very retentive memory. His father used to say, “My son ʿAbd Allāh has a gift for learning”—or “memorizing”—“Hadith.” In his last illness, he was asked where he wanted to be buried. He replied, “I’m certain that there’s a prophet buried somewhere in the Qaṭīʿah, and I’d rather be near a prophet than near my father.” He died on Sunday, the twenty-first of Jumādā II 290 [May 22, 903], and in the late afternoon was buried in the Straw Gate cemetery. His nephew Zuhayr prayed over him with a great crowd in attendance.

Kulingana na Ḥanbal ibn Isḥāq, Saʿīd alizaliwa takriban siku hamsini kabla ya Aḥmad kufariki.

According to Ḥanbal ibn Isḥāq, Saʿīd was born about fifty days before Aḥmad died.

Kwa mujibu wa wengine, Saʿīd aliteuliwa kuwa kadhi huko Kufa na alifariki mwaka 303 [915–16]. 65.7

According to others, Saʿīd was appointed judge in Kufa and died in 303 [915– 16]. 65.7

[Mwandishi:] Hili si sahihi. Ninamnukuu Abū Manṣūr al-Qazzāz, ambaye anaeleza kwamba alimsikia Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī ibn Thabit akisema kwamba Saʿīd ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal alisimulia hadithi alizozisikia kutoka kwa Abū Mujālid Aḥmad ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Ḍarīr, na Qadhi Abū ʿImrān Mūsā ibn al-Qāsim al-Ashyab alipokea hadithi kutoka kwake. Saʿīd alifariki muda mrefu kabla ya kaka yake ʿAbd Allāh.

[The author:] This is incorrect. I cite Abū Manṣūr al-Qazzāz, who reports hearing Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī ibn Thabit say that Saʿīd ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal repeated reports he had heard from Abū Mujālid Aḥmad ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Ḍarīr, and Judge Abū ʿImrān Mūsā ibn al-Qāsim al-Ashyab transmitted reports from him. Saʿīd died quite a long time before his brother ʿAbd Allāh.

Nimetaja pia, katika sura ya wanazuoni waliomsifu Aḥmad, kwamba Ibrāhīm al-Ḥarbī alimtembelea ʿAbd Allāh ili kutoa pole juu ya kifo cha nduguye Saʿīd.

I have also mentioned, in the chapter on those learned men who praised Aḥmad, that Ibrāhīm al-Ḥarbī visited ʿAbd Allāh to express his condolences on the death of his brother Saʿīd.

Kuhusu al-Ḥasan na Muḥammad hatuna taarifa yoyote kabisa. Kuhusu Zaynab, tumeeleza katika sura kuhusu uchaji wa Aḥmad kisa ambacho anamwambia Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm, "Chukua kuku huyu, muuze! Baba yangu anahitaji kufunguliwa damu kwa kikombe lakini hana pesa." Akasema Isḥāq, "Nilimwona Aḥmad akimpiga binti yake na kumkemea kwa kuzungumza Kiarabu kibaya."330 65.8

Regarding al-Ḥasan and Muḥammad we have no information at all. As for Zaynab, we have reported, in the chapter on Aḥmad’s scrupulosity, the story where she tells Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm, “Take this chicken and sell it! My father needs a cupping but he has no money.” Said Isḥāq, “I saw Aḥmad beat his daughter and scold her for speaking bad Arabic.”330 65.8

[Al-Marrūdhī:] Niliingia kumwona Aḥmad, nikamkuta mwanamke akiwa anachana nywele za mmoja wa binti zake. 65.9

[Al-Marrūdhī:] I went in to see Aḥmad and found a woman there combing the hair of one of his daughters. 65.9

"Je, umeshamweka utepe 331 kwenye nywele zake bado?" nilimwuliza yule mwanamke.