The Compiler
Abū Abd Allah Ahmad bin Muhammad bin Hanbal bin Halāl bin Asad ash-Shaybānī al-Marwazī al-Baghdādī (رحمه الله)
He was born in 164H and passed away, may Allah have mercy on him, in 241H. He began seeking out Hadīth when he was 15 years old.
Among his most famous teachers are: Sufyān bin Uyaynah, Abū Dāwud at-Tayālisī, adh-Dhahhāk, Abd ur-Rahman bin Mahdī, Abd ur-Razzāq, Abū Nu'aym, Imām ash-Shāfi'ī, Wakī' bin al-Jarrāh, Yahyā bin Sa'īd al-Qahtān, and Yazīd bin Harūn.
Among his most famous students are: al-Bukhārī, Imām Muslim, Abū Dāwud as-Sijistānī, Abū Bakr al-Marrūdhī, Hanbal bin Ishāq bin Hanbal (his cousin), Sālih bin Ahmad bin Muhammad bin Hanbal (his son), Abd Allah bin Ahmad bin Hanbal (his son), Abū Bakr bin Abī Dunyā, Abūl-Qāsim al-Baghawī, Abū Zur'ah ad-Dimashqī, Abd ur-Rahman bin Mahdī, Abd ur-Razzāq, Abū Zur'ah ar-Rāzī, Uthmān bin Sa'īd ad-Dārimī, Alī bin al-Madīnī, Qutaybah bin Sa'īd, Imām ash-Shāfi'ī, Abū Hātim ar-Rāzī, Abū Bakr at-Tabarānī, Abū Bakr al-Marwazī, Muhammad bin Yahyā adh-Dhuhlī, Wakī' bin al-Jarrāh, Yahyā bin Ādam, Yahyā bin Ma'īn, and Yazīd bin Hārūn.
Merits of the Compiler
Ibrāhīm al-Harbī said: "I saw Ahmad as if Allah had gathered for him knowledge of the first generations and the latter ones".
Harmalah said: "I heard ash-Shāfi'ī saying, 'I left Baghdād and I did not leave behind a man more virtuous, knowledgeable, or juristic than Ahmad bin Hanbal'."
Alī bin al-Madīnī said: "Indeed Allah supported this Dīn with Abū Bakr as-Siddīq on the Day of Apostasy, and with Ahmad bin Hanbal on the Day of the Trial".
Ibn Rāhawayh said: "I would sit with Ahmad and Ibn Ma'īn and we would exchange views. Then I would say, 'What is its jurisprudence? What is its exegesis?' All would be silent except Ahmad."
Al-Marwadhi said: "I heard some of the scholars from Wasit saying, 'I did not see Yazīd bin Hārūn leave off joking in front of anyone except Ahmad bin Hanbal'."
Al-Muzani said: "Ash-Shafi'ī said to me, ' I have seen in Baghdād a youth who when he says 'so-and-so narrated to us', all the people say 'He has been truthful.' I said, 'And Who is he?' Ash-Shafi'ī said: 'Ahmad bin Hanbal'."
It was transmitted from Ishāq bin Rāhawayh that he said: "Ahmad is a proof between Allah and His creation".
Sālih said: "I said to my father, 'Indeed Ahmad ad-Dawraqī has gifted me 1,000 dīnār!' Then he said: 'Oh my son- the provision of your Lord is best and more lasting'."
Abd Allah bin Ahmad said: "My father went to Tarsus walking, and made Hajj two or three times, walking, and he was the most forbearing of people in solitude."
Abbās ad-Durī said Alī bin Abī Fazārah, our neighbor narrated to us: "My mother was bed-ridden for about 20 years, so she said to me one day, 'Go to Ahmad bin Hanbal and ask him to make Du'a for me'. So I went and knocked for him and he remained in his vestibule and said, 'Who is it?' I said, 'My mother is bed-ridden and she asked me to ask you for Du'a'. Then I heard him saying something as if he was angry and he said, 'We are more in need of you to make Du'a for us'. So I turned to leave and an elderly woman came out and said, 'When I left him, he was making Du'a for her'. So I went back to our house and knocked on the door and my mother came out on her two feet, walking." [Adh-Dhahabī said: 'This incident was related by 2 trustworthy individuals on authority of Abbās]
Abd Allah bin Ahmad said: "My father went to Tarsus, held the front line there and fought in battles".
This book contains 2,409 narrations with chains of support. The author arranged it into 58 topics, and it begins with the virtue of Islamic asceticism in general. It then moves on to the asceticism of the Prophets, the Companions, and the Tabi'īn, until the end of the book.
Kitāb az-Zuhd contains traditions which go back to the Prophet, some that end with the Companions, and those that end with the Tabi'īn. There are some traditions which have a high level of authenticity and those which do not. The grades of the narrations will be mentioned, In Sha Allah, with a focus on the comments of Shaykh Shu'ayb al-Arna'ūt and commentary on the Ahadīth by major scholars.
It is worth mentioning that this book has not reached us complete, rather over time a great amount of it has been lost.
