[The Shaykh’s Debate with the Ahmadiyya]
On Saturday, the ninth of Jumada I (1) of that very year—year five—a group from the Ahmadiyya of the Rifaʿi order (2) gathered before the deputy of the Sultanate in the Citadel, and Shaykh Taqi al-Din was also present. They asked that he grant them approval for their practices and that Shaykh Taqi al-Din neither oppose nor censure them [ق 70]. They likewise wished to demonstrate some of the acts they perform. The Shaykh rose to address them, spoke about adherence to the Sharia, and declared that no one (3) is permitted to depart from it in word or deed (4). He also remarked that they resort to certain stratagems by which they claim to enter fire unharmed and to draw butter from their throats.
He said to them, “Whoever wishes to enter the fire should first wash his body in the bathhouse, then rub it with vinegar, and only then go in (5). Even if he does go in, pay it no heed; it is merely a sort of trick akin to what the Dajjal (Antichrist) is said to perform among us.”
They were a large crowd.
Shaykh Ṣāliḥ, the shaykh of al-Munaybiʿ (6), said, “Our ‘states’ fetch with the Tatars whatever price they fetch …”