324 - Abu Bakr narrated to us, saying: Abu 'Abd Allah Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hanbal narrated to us, saying: Yahya ibn Adam narrated to us, saying: Hamza narrated to us, from 'Adi ibn Thabit, from Abu Hazim, from Abu Hurayra, who said: "The best of the children of Adam are Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace; and the best of them is Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace."

Furthermore, may Allah grant you happiness, if we were to set out to write the accounts of the shaykhs, the chains of transmission (asanid), and the narrations, the book would become too long. However, we hope from Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, that in some of what we have written there will be sufficiency for those whom Allah desires. So, trust in Allah and in the victory that comes from Him over those who oppose you, for you are under the watchful eye of Allah by His nearness, and under His protection so long as you remain upon the tradition (al-athar). May Allah preserve your religions and your trusts for you. We are not free from the fear that this conflagration might rise and spread among the people, and that an affair might descend upon your city that you cannot bear. So, for the sake of Allah, for the sake of Allah, O servants of Allah! Advise your brothers among the believers, expel these innovators from your city, and seek the help of Allah against them; for their companion who established this for them is driven away from the mosques and the thoroughfares; he has no standing with any of the people of virtue; his intellect has been stripped away, and he wanders lost upon his face; no one can speak to him but that he responds with insults. May Allah disgrace him and disgrace his followers, for his followers are the greatest losers, while the party of Allah are the victors. May Allah hold us and you firmly to the Sunnah and the community (al-jama'ah), and may He grant us life and cause us to die upon it by His mercy. We fear, if this is established among the Muslims and all of our companions, that the mujahidin and the people of goodness will be cut off from this city, and that what befell them in the days of the Lafziyyah (those who argued about the recitation of the Quran) will befall them. So, for the sake of Allah, for the sake of Allah, watch over yourselves and us! Expel these vile innovators from among you and trust in the victory from your Lord, for Allah is with those who fear Him and those who are good-doers. May Allah make us and you among the most honorable of those who turn toward Him, the closest of those who draw near to Him, and the most successful of those who call upon Him and petition Him. May He turn away from us and from you all trials and misguidance, and keep us and you safe from destructive desires by His grace and power. Thus is your opinion, may Allah grant you happiness, regarding this book in light of the safety and the victory over those who oppose the people of your religion that Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, has brought about, that He may be praised for what He has bestowed of His support for His allies and the people of His obedience. Peace be upon you, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.

Abu Bakr al-Khallal said: This is the book which our shaykhs wrote, and this is its copy. I have heard most of it from Abu Bakr al-Marrudhi, and from those from whom Abu Bakr al-Marrudhi wrote this speech, including al-Duri, 'Ali ibn Dawud, Yahya ibn Abi Talib, Abu Dawud al-Sijistani, and others. I was present with Abu Bakr al-Marrudhi with Muhammad ibn Bishr ibn Sharik in Taq al-Mahamil in the year we performed Hajj with him; he handed these narrations to him, and he read them to him alone, while we were on the side. I went with him to his house, and he went inside while we did not. Al-Marrudhi, may Allah have mercy on him, had said to me: "Wait for me at the Makhram until I return so I can take the writing of Muhammad ibn 'Ubayd Allah ibn al-Munadi regarding the affair of al-Tirmidhi, just as the shaykhs brought it forth." I said to him: "Ibn al-Munadi is not one who will come to you." He seemed not to think that I was knowledgeable, having forgotten about this aspect, and he began to marvel at me and said: "Wait for me." So I waited for him at the gate of the Makhram. He said to me: "Take some of his benefits with you." When it was the morning prayer, he arrived alone on a donkey. When he saw me, he said: "You are fit for travel." We prayed the dawn prayer at the gate of the Makhram and went to Ibn al-Munadi. When he saw Abu Bakr al-Marrudhi, he raised his status and honored him, although Ibn al-Munadi, may Allah have mercy on him, possessed the temperaments of the youth, such as joking and other things. When Abu Bakr al-Marrudhi saw him—and I did not think he had seen him before that—and our sitting with him regarding the hadith was prolonged, and Ibn al-Munadi mentioned some beautiful points from Ahmad ibn Hanbal. When midday arrived and the heat intensified, and al-Marrudhi did not discuss with him any of what he had come to him for, Abu Bakr al-Marrudhi said to me: "Bring what you have." So I read to him many hadiths from the benefits that I had brought out for him, and we departed from his presence. When we were on the road, Abu Bakr al-Marrudhi said to me: "I see that you understand these things," or something to that effect. He was pleased with what he saw of my meticulousness regarding these matters. I had not thought that I would need to explain all of this in the 'Praised Station' (al-Maqam al-Mahmud). When I wrote to our companions regarding what happened in Tarsus, they wrote this book and composed it upon this which they have written, and it is as they composed it. And by Allah is the success.