Ahmad ibn Hanbal's family life.
His Mother
Ahmad loved his mother alot, and wouldn't do anything to upset her.
He would wake up early in the morning to learn to go to the masjid so he could join the study circles early. But his mother would tell him to wait for the azaan because she felt it was too dark for him to travel alone. So he would sit down and say "Oh my mother, okay i will."
Some of his colleagues wanted to visit a scholar [Jareer ibn Abdul Hameed.] The scholar was located on the other side of the river of Baghdad (Euphrates river.) It was dangerous to cross because a person could sink and drown, or fall in and drown.
He asked his mother if he could go, but she asked him not to. So he obeyed her, even though he would love to meet him.
Taqwa (fear of Allaah) in his Youth
Teaching the officials to fear Allaah
When he was 15/16yrs old, his uncle recorded what was going on in the city. His uncle passed Ahmad the reports and told him to give the reports to the Wali of the city.
Month's passed by, but the Wali never recieved ther eports. The Wali became angry and impatient, he asked
Ahmad's uncle where the reports were.
His uncle was shocked and said that he had sent the reports to
Ahmad. So they both called Ahmad and asked; "Where are the reports
Ahmad?"
Ahmad said "did you expect me to give him the reports?"
"What else did you do with them?"
"I took them all, and threw them in the river of Baghdad." said
Ahmad.
"inaa lillaahi wa ina alayhi raji'oon, these are valuable reports."
"subhan Allaah!" the wali said, "this boy doesn't want to do something which he thinks is haraam. So what about us?"
The Love letters
When Harun-ar-Rasheed used to go to his palace outside Baghdad, he used to take his soldiers with him.
At that time, it was well known that
Ahmad could write, so the wive's of the soldiers would ask him to read their husband's love letters out to them [because the women couldn't read] - they trusted him because of his piety.
After hearing the letter's, they would ask
Ahmad to write a letter back to their husbands. He would do so, except when the wife said to him to write; "I love you" , "I miss you" , "I want to see you" etc. he would not write it.
He would not write anything which he thought might cause confusion and fitnah among the people.
His Marriage Life
He got married at the age of 40 after his mother passed away.
Imaam Ahmad's first wife was called Aa'isha, in a marriage which lasted for 30years. She gave birth to a son called Saalih, so her kunya (nickname) was Um Saalih.
When
Imaam Ahmad spoke to his student's he told them - "I lived with Um Saalih for 30yrs, never has my voice and her voice rose against each other, never have I disagreed with her on anything."
After Aa'isha [Um Saalih] passed away, he married Raihaana and she gave birth to their son called Abdullah.
When Raihaana died, he got married again and had 2 children [when he was aged 74.]
Out of his 3 marriages - he had;
Saalih, Abdullah, Zaynab, hasan, hussein, (both died after birth) but Allaah blessed him with another Hasan, Muhammad and Saeed.
Saeed later on became the judge of Kufa, and his two son's Abdullah and Saalih became the best scholars within their time.
Imaam Ahmad died at the age of 75 (may Allaah Almighty have mercy on him.)
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