dyeing his beard with henna, and riding a donkey whose coat was likewise tinted with henna. He would sit so that the common people gathered around him, but after a time his popularity slackened. Later the vizier Ibn Hubayra took an interest in him and his standing revived. I have heard a number of persons relate things about him that silence would better conceal.

It was also said that he inclined toward the doctrine of the Sālimiyya and used to say, “The dead eat, drink, and marry in their graves; and the drinker and the fornicator are not to be blamed, for they act according to Allah’s decree and pre-ordination.” (1)

I reply: He cites as proof the story of Adam and Moses—peace be upon them both—and Adam’s words by which he refuted Moses (2). Even if we were to concede that the fornicator is not to be blamed, we are still required to inflict the ḥadd penalty upon him, banish him, censure his deed, reject his testimony, and hold him in disdain. If he repents and fears Allah, we then love him and honor him; the dispute, therefore, is only verbal.

He said: I heard ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd al-Malik say, “Al-Zabīdī added to the Names of Allah four unattested ones: al-Zāriʿ (the Planter), al-Mutammim (the Completer), al-Mubham (the Obscure), and al-Muzhir (the Manifest).”

Ibn ʿAsākir said: His son Ismāʿīl related, “During every day and night of his illness my father would repeat ‘Allah, Allah’ about fifteen thousand times, and he continued until his life was extinguished.” (3)

Ibn Shāfiʿ said: “He possessed a large share of knowledge in Arabic and in legal theory, and he authored in the various sciences nearly one hundred works (4). He did not waste a moment of his life, and he was…"