The Day Al-Imaam Ahmad Died
The whole of Baghdad shook. Such a big janaazah was never witnessed in the city.
His corpse left his house at Asr and could not reach the maqbarah until after Maghrib due to the traffic of the people on the roads and paths. It was said that after the prayer many people were unable to get back to their homes until after some days.
After the Janaazah, the Khalifah (al-Mutawakkil who later accepted Al-Imaam Ahmad as a genuine scholar) asked the demographers to give an estimate of the number of people that witnessed the janaazah. Reports put it between one million, and two million and five hundred thousand people.
It was that day the popular statement of Al-Imaam Ahmad as reported by his son, Abdullah, came to play:
'Say to the heretics, between us and them is the day of janaazah.'
Saalih, his eldest son, reported that his father died in Rabeeul Awwal of year 241 at the age of 77.
The report that about ten or twenty thousand Jews and Christians embraced Islam on the day of his death is weak. Abu Bakr al-Makiyy was its sole reporter from al-War'kaanee (Muhammad bn Jafar) who had died about 13 years before Al-Imaam Ahmad.
No doubt that Al-Imaam Ahmad was an enigma. May Allaah continue to bestow His mercies on him and others like him.
As-Siyar 9: 284-299, not verbatim.
