—and you will have my thanks. I was left speechless. (1)

Hāshim ibn Muḥammad al-Khuzāʿī relates: “Al-Jāḥiẓ narrated to us in the year 253 AH; he quoted Thumāmah as saying:

‘I saw a man bring his opponent before a governor and declare, “May God set you right! This fellow is a Nasibi, a Rafidi, a Jahmi, an anthropomorphist; he reviles al-Ḥajjāj ibn al-Zubayr—the one who pulled down the Kaʿbah upon ʿAlī—and he curses Muʿāwiyah ibn Abī Ṭālib.” (2) ’

Yamūt ibn al-Muzarraʿ reports: “Al-Jāḥiẓ told us:

‘Abū al-ʿAtāhiyah entered upon al-Maʾmūn, assailed the innovators, and cursed the Qadariyyah. Al-Maʾmūn said, “You are a poet, and theology has its own people.” He replied, “True, but let me ask Thumāmah a question; tell him to answer me.”

So he stretched out his hand, shook it, and said, “O Thumāmah! Who moved my hand?”

Thumāmah answered, “Whoever’s mother is a fornicator.”

He protested, “Commander of the Faithful, he is insulting me!”

Thumāmah remarked, “By God, he has contradicted himself.” (3)’

Abū Rawaq al-Hizzānī (4) reports: “Al-Faḍl ibn Yaʿqūb told us:

‘Thumāmah and Yaḥyā ibn Aktham met in the presence of al-Maʾmūn. Al-Maʾmūn asked Yaḥyā, “What is passionate love?”

He replied, “Passing impressions that visit the lover; he inclines to them and is enraptured by them.”

Thumāmah said, “You may be more versed in jurisprudence, but in this we are cleverer than you.”

Al-Maʾmūn said, “Then speak.”

Thumāmah said, “When the essences of souls mingle through a bond of affinity, there arises a flash of brilliant light by which the inner sight of the intellect is illuminated, and the very impulses of life quiver at its radiance. From that flash the soul conceives a light peculiar to itself, attached to its substance; this is called passionate love.”

Al-Maʾmūn said, “That is—’”