The Compiler
Abū Abd Allah Ahmad bin Muhammad bin Hanbal bin Halāl bin Asad ash-Shaybānī al-Marwazī al-Baghdādī
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.
The Text
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.