against you; and when you ask him for proof, he has no means of producing it.

As for their claim, “No statement counts except what Allah has spoken,” that is true—yet show me, then, what He actually said.

As for their claim, “Judgment belongs to none but Allah,” this is not to be granted without qualification, for part of Allah’s own judgment is that He entrusts judgment to others concerning matters about which He has commanded and informed.

It is soundly established (1) that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “When you lay siege to the people of a fortress, do not let them surrender on the judgment of Allah, for you (2) do not know what Allah’s judgment is; rather, let them surrender on your judgment (3).”

It is likewise authentically reported that he said: “You must adhere to my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the Rightly Guided Caliphs …” to the end of the ḥadith (4).

I say: Qāḍī Abū Bakr—may Allah have mercy on him—did not deal justly with his own teacher in matters of knowledge; he did not speak of him with fairness, and he went to extremes in belittling him. Yet Abū Bakr, great though he was in scholarship, does not attain the rank of Abū Muḥammad, nor even come close. May Allah have mercy on them both and forgive them.

Al-Yasaʿ ibn Ḥazm al-Ghāfiqī, mentioning Abū Muḥammad, said: “As for his memorization, it is a surging sea and a gushing flood: from its depths emerge corals of wisdom, and in its torrents grow luxuriant clusters of blessings in the meadows of resolve. He preserved the sciences of the Muslims and surpassed every adherent of any religion. He authored Al-Milal wa’l-Nihal. In his youth he wore silk and would settle for nothing less than the throne (5).”

He recited before al-Muʿtamid and performed admirably; then he made for Valencia, where al-Muẓaffar