It is reported that Abû Bakr Al-Matû’î said: ***I sat in the circle of Abû ‘Abdillâh Ahmad b. Hanbal for twelve years while he read the Musnad to his children, and I never wrote a single hadîth, I only looked at his behavior, character and etiquette.
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Ibn Al-Jawzî, *Manâqib Ahmad, article 210.
It is reported that Al-Hasan b. Ismâ’îl said,** ‘I heard my father say: ***There would gather in the circle of Ahmad five thousand people or more; less than five hundred would write, the rest would learn from him good manners and behavior.’
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It is reported that Sufyân Al-Thawrî said:*A man who wants to write hadîth should learn manners and worship for twenty years before starting.
Abû Nu’aym, Hilyatu Al-Awliyâ`, 6:361.*****