He replied, “The matter is not as you imagine. They may well be mujtahids (qualified jurists engaging in ijtihād) who happened to err. They acted on their ijtihād (independent legal reasoning)(1), and the mujtahid who errs still receives a reward.”

When he said that, they retorted, “Then get up and ride with us so that you may come(2) to Cairo.”

He answered, “No.” He then asked about the time for the ʿAṣr prayer. When told it was near, he rose and headed for the congregational mosque to perform ʿAṣr.

People said to him, “Master, they have plotted to kill you. In the main mosque they will be able to overpower you in a way they cannot elsewhere, so pray wherever you are.”

Yet he refused and insisted on going to the mosque and praying there. He set out, and a great crowd followed him, unwilling to leave him, so the road became clogged with people. Someone close to him said, “Enter this mosque along the way and sit there until the crowd thins, lest someone be crushed to death.”

He entered but did not sit; he remained standing, and I stood with him. When the people had dispersed somewhat, he resumed his search for the Old Congregational Mosque. On the way he passed some men playing chess on a platform in front of a blacksmith’s shop; he shook the board and overturned it, and the player(3) and the onlookers were stunned by what he had done.

He then continued toward the mosque while the people were saying, “Here they will kill him; any moment now they will kill him.”