this man maintains that Allah spoke the Qur’an with letter and sound, that He—exalted is He—is upon the Throne in His very Self, and that one may point toward Him with a physical gesture. I therefore seek that he be punished for these claims.

The judge said, “What do you say, O jurist?”

He praised and extolled Allah. They interrupted him: “Be brief; we did not summon you to deliver a sermon!”

He replied, “Am I to be forbidden from praising Allah?!”

The judge said, “Give your answer; you have already praised Allah.”

He fell silent, but they pressed him.

He then asked, “Who is to judge my case (1)?”

They pointed to the judge Ibn Makhluf.

He said, “You are my adversary—how can you sit in judgment over me?” He became angry and agitated, and the judge was left speechless.

The Shaykh and his two brothers were thereupon seized and imprisoned in the dungeon of the Citadel, and many events followed.

A royal decree disparaging him (2) was sent to Syria; it was read aloud in the Great Mosque, and the people were pained