“It is not lawful to shed the blood of a Muslim except in one of three cases…,” and he went on to relate the remainder of the ḥadith.

He then asked, “Tell me about the caliphate—is it a testament bequeathed to us by the Messenger of Allah ﷺ?”

I answered, “Had it truly been a testament from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, ʿAlī, may Allah be pleased with him, would never have allowed anyone to precede him.”

He said, “What is your verdict concerning the wealth of the Umayyads?”

I replied, “If it was lawful for them, it is unlawful for you; and if it was unlawful for them, it is, for you, even more unlawful.”

He ordered that I be taken out, and I was escorted away.

I (the narrator) say: ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAlī was a tyrannical king, a prolific shedder of blood, harsh and overbearing; yet Imām al-Awzāʿī confronted him with the bitter truth, as you have seen—unlike that class of corrupt scholars who beautify for rulers the injustices and oppressions into which they plunge, turning falsehood into truth for them—may Allah destroy them—or else keep silent while fully able to clarify the truth.

Khaythamah narrated: al-Ḥawṭī told us; Abū al-Aswār Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar al-Tanūkhī told us, saying:

Al-Manṣūr wrote to al-Awzāʿī: “To proceed: The Commander of the Believers has laid upon your neck the same responsibility that Allah placed upon his neck for His subjects before you. Therefore write to me whatever you deem beneficial, whatever you wish.”

Al-Awzāʿī wrote back: “To proceed: Observe God-fearing devotion, and humble yourself; Allah will raise you up on the Day He casts down those who were arrogant on earth without right. Know that your kinship to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ only enlarges Allah’s claim upon you and makes obedience to Him all the more obligatory.”

Muḥammad ibn Shuʿayb said: I heard al-Awzāʿī say, “Whoever gathers the odd, isolated opinions of the scholars has departed from Islam.”

And al-Awzāʿī said, “No man ever introduces an innovation without being stripped of piety.”

This was reported by Baqiyyah, from Maʿmar ibn ʿUrayb, from him.

Al-Walīd ibn Mazīd said: I heard al-Awzāʿī say, “The believer speaks little and does much, whereas the hypocrite speaks much and does little.”