were passing by in the pre-dawn darkness when a storyteller lifted his voice in supplication, saying, “O Allah, grant us wholesome provision and employ us in righteous deeds.”

Makḥūl, who was among the gathering, remarked, “Allah grants nothing but what is wholesome.” Rajāʾ ibn Ḥaywah and ʿAdiyy ibn ʿAdiyy were standing off to one side, and one of them said to the other, “Did you hear that?” “Yes,” he replied.

Someone then informed Makḥūl, “Rajāʾ and ʿAdiyy heard what you said.” This distressed him, whereupon ʿAbd Allāh ibn Zayd said, “I will take care of Rajāʾ for you.”

When they halted for the night, Ibn Zayd came and brought up Makḥūl’s name. Rajāʾ said, “Leave him alone. Is he not the author of that remark?” Ibn Zayd responded, “May Allah have mercy on you—what is your view of a man who killed a Jew, seized a thousand dinars from him, and lived off that money until he died: was that sustenance Allah had provided for him?” Rajāʾ answered, “Everything is from Allah.”

Ibn Abī Ḥamalah asked Makḥūl, “Does Ghailān sit with you?” He replied, “We have only one session; I cannot tell this man, ‘Get up,’ and that one, ‘Sit down.’”

Rajāʾ ibn Abī Salamah narrates from ʿĀṣim ibn Rajāʾ:
“Makḥūl came to my father and said, ‘Abū al-Miqdām, they are after my blood.’ My father replied, ‘I warned you about the Qurayshites and keeping company with them. They drew you close, you narrated hadiths to them, and when they spread those reports in your name you disliked it.’ Makḥūl then left, and those who disparaged him arrived and mentioned him. My father said, ‘Leave him be; not long ago you were all praise for him.’

Rajāʾ further related that Makḥūl used to say, “I managed to stand firm against those who sought to harm me until Rajāʾ came to their aid against me (1)—for, in their eyes, he is the spokesman of the people of Syria.”

ʿAbd al-Razzāq said, “Makḥūl used to profess it—meaning belief about the divine decree (qadar)—and we have been informed that Makḥūl …"