he seated him and said, “Engage Ibn Abī Duʿād in debate.”

The shaykh answered, “Commander of the Believers, he is too frail for disputation.”

Al-Wāthiq grew angry. “Abū ʿAbd-Allāh—too weak to debate you?!”

“Calm yourself,” the shaykh said. “Grant me leave and safeguard both me and him.”

Then he turned to the judge. “Ahmad, tell me about this doctrine of yours. Is it a mandatory article of faith, without which the religion remains incomplete until it is proclaimed?”

“Yes,” he replied.

“Inform me about the Messenger of Allah ﷺ when Allah sent him: did he hide anything of what he was commanded to convey?”

“No.”

“Then did he summon the people to this doctrine of yours?”

Ahmad fell silent.
The shaykh said, “Commander of the Believers, that is one.”
Al-Wāthiq said, “One.”

The shaykh continued: “Tell me about Allah—Exalted is He—when He said, ‘Today I have perfected for you your religion’ (Qur’an 5:3). Was Allah truthful in perfecting our religion, or are you truthful in claiming it deficient until your doctrine is professed?”

Ahmad remained silent.
The shaykh said, “Two, Commander of the Believers.”
He answered, “Yes.”

“Now, this doctrine of yours: did the Messenger of Allah know it or was he ignorant of it?”

“He knew it.”

“Then did he call his community to it?”

Again Ahmad was silent.
The shaykh said, “Three.”

He went on: “Was it permissible for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to withhold it and not oblige his community with it?”

“Yes.”

“And was that also permissible for Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān and ʿAlī?”

“Yes.”

The shaykh turned from him and said to the Caliph, “Commander of the Believers, I have already declared that Ahmad is too weak for debate. If you cannot refrain from this doctrine as, according to him, it was allowable for the Prophet ﷺ and his Companions to refrain from it, then may Allah grant you no relief.”

Al-Wāthiq said, “Yes, so it is. Remove the shackle from the shaykh.”

When they cut it off, he took the chain in his hand. Al-Wāthiq asked, “Why have you taken it?”

He replied, “I intend to stipulate that it be buried with me in my shroud, so that I may confront this man with it before Allah.”

He wept; al-Wāthiq wept, and we all wept. The Caliph then sought his pardon and ordered a stipend for him.

He said, “I have no need of it.”

Al-Muhtadī concluded, “So I abandoned that doctrine, and I believe al-Wāthiq abandoned it on that very day.”