—al-Wāthiq, and he led them in prayer. Jaʿfar, however, stepped aside, removed his leather socks, and prayed alone. He was sitting near Yaḥyā ibn Kāmil, and Ibn Kāmil’s tears began to flow for fear that Jaʿfar might be put to death; al-Wāthiq merely bared his teeth in a grin. When they left, Ibn Abī Duʾād said to him, “This lion will not tolerate what you have done. If you are determined to persist, then do not come to the session.”
He answered, “I have no wish to attend.”
At the next gathering al-Wāthiq looked around and asked, “Where is the righteous shaykh?”
Ibn Abī Duʾād replied, “He is suffering from consumption and needs to lie down.”
“So be it,” the caliph said. (1)
Muḥammad al-Nadīm records that he died in 236 AH, at roughly sixty years of age. (2)
Among his works are: The Book of the Ambiguous Verses of the Quran; The Book of Exhaustive Investigation; The Book of Refutation of the Advocates of Natural Causes; and The Book of Foundational Principles.
He had among his pupils:
- al-Iskāfī, Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh*—the eminent scholar Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Samarkandī, later known as al-Iskāfī, a leading dialectical theologian. He was a marvel of intelligence and encyclopedic learning, coupled with piety, self-restraint, and integrity.