217 - Muhammad ibn 'Ali informed me, saying: Abu Bakr al-Athram narrated to us, saying: I said to Abu 'Abd Allah [Ahmad ibn Hanbal]: [Regarding] the statement of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace: 'Verily, I see you from behind my back.' He said: 'He used to see behind him just as he saw in front of him.' I said to him: 'A person said to me: "He is like others in this; he only used to see them the way an Imam looks at those on his right and on his left."' He rejected that vehemently.