thousand, yet You have sent us ten thousand. ʿAbd al-Majīd, take the ten thousand to them—five for them, and five in honor of the bond of brotherhood between us and their father.’ ”

The servant asked, “Who will receive what I am carrying?”

He replied, “My son, you are free for the sake of Allah, and everything you have with you is yours.”

ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz said, “I asked ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ about some people who testify that others are guilty of shirk (polytheism), and he disapproved of that.”

He also said, “O Allah, whatever portion of reverential fear of You has not yet reached our hearts, forgive us for it on the Day when You take vengeance upon Your enemies.”

On the authority of ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz: He was asked, “What is the best form of worship?” He answered, “Lasting sorrow.”

I say: Ibn Abī Rawwād possessed many good qualities, but he was a Murjiʾī (1).

Muʾammal ibn Ismāʿīl said: “When ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz died, his bier was brought and set down at the Ṣafā Gate. Sufyān al-Thawrī arrived, and the people began to say, ‘Sufyān has come, Sufyān has come.’

“He walked forward, tore through the rows, passed beyond the bier, and did not perform the funeral prayer over him, because he regarded him as holding the doctrine of irjāʾ.

“When this was said to Sufyān, he replied, ‘By Allah, I consider it permissible to pray over someone who is, in my view, beneath him, but I wanted to show the people that he died upon an innovation (bidʿa).’ ”

Yaḥyā ibn Sulaim said: “I heard Ibn Abī Rawwād, while making ṭawāf, ask Hishām ibn Ḥassān, ‘What was al-Hasan’s view regarding faith?’

“Hishām answered, ‘He used to say: Faith is speech and action.’

“Then Ibn Abī Rawwād asked, ‘And what would Ibn Sīrīn say?’

“He replied, ‘He would say: “We believe in Allah and His angels.” ’ (2)

“ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz then remarked, ‘Ibn Sīrīn was Ibn Sīrīn—indeed, Ibn Sīrīn was Ibn Sīrīn.’

“Hishām concluded, ‘Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān has made irjāʾ plain; Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān has made irjāʾ plain.’ ”