When Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal was imprisoned, one of the prison guards came to him and asked him:
“O Abu ‘Abdillah! The hadith that is narrated regarding the oppressors and those that aid them – is it authentic?”
He said: “Yes.”
The prison guard then said: “So, I am considered to be an aide of the oppressors?”
Imam Ahmad replied: “No. The aides of the oppressors are those that comb your hair, and wash your clothes, and prepare your meals, and buy and sell from you. As for you (as a guard, working for Zaleem), then you are one of the oppressors themselves!”
[‘Manaqib al-Imam Ahmad’, by Ibn al-Jawzi, p.397]
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