himself that he would never hear two men arguing about predestination without immediately rising to pray two rakʿahs.⦗1⦘

I say: This indicates that Basra was seething with debates on qadar in those days; for if a jurist today were to bind himself to the same rule, he might spend a whole year or two without hearing anyone dispute the divine decree—praise be to Allah—and no one in Syria or Egypt now openly denies qadar.

Bakr al-Muzani—this report is also found in al-Zuhd by Ahmad—said:

“When a man among the Children of Israel attained spiritual maturity and walked among the people, a cloud would shade him.”⦗2⦘

I say: The scriptural proof is Allah’s words, “We shaded you with the cloud” (al-Baqarah 2:57; al-Aʿrāf 7:159). The Exalted did that for them for an entire year, though among them were both the obedient and the disobedient. Our Prophet—may Allah’s blessings be upon him—is the most honored of creation before his Lord, yet no cloud ever shaded him, and no authentic report establishes such a thing.⦗3⦘ What is verified is that, when he cast the pebbles, Bilal shaded him with his cloak from the heat of the sun. Marvels and signs abounded among the Children of Israel, but since this nation is the best of all nations and its faith more firmly rooted, it has no need of proofs or extraordinary events. Understand this: the more a believer increases in knowledge and certainty, the less he needs miracles; extraordinary signs are for those of weaker faith, and they will multiply as the Hour approaches.

ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwan al-Haddāʾ narrated to us: Yazid ibn Zurayʿ told us, from Humayd al-Tawil, who said:

“Bakr ibn ʿAbd Allah’s cloak was valued at four thousand.”

Abu Nuʿaym relates the same report⦗4⦘ with a different chain from Humayd.