the pulpit of Job; that would have been better for me, for he was afflicted in his religion, whereas David was subjected to temptation in his religion.

He added, “And events then took their course”—that is, his yielding during the inquisition over the Qur’an.

I say: Ghulam Khalil is not reliable.

Al-Ḥusayn ibn Fahm relates: my father told me that

Ibn Abī Dāwūd said to al-Muʿtaṣim, “Commander of the Faithful, this man—meaning Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal—claims that Allah will be seen in the Hereafter, while the eye can only fall upon something bounded, and Allah is not bounded.”

The caliph asked, “What have you to say?”

Aḥmad replied, “Commander of the Faithful, I have with me what the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said.”

“And what is that?”

He answered, “Ghundar narrated to me; Shuʿbah narrated to us, from Ismāʿīl, from Qays, from Jarīr, who said:

‘We were with the Prophet ﷺ on the night of the fourteenth when he looked at the full moon and said, “You shall certainly see your Lord just as you see this full moon; you will not crowd one another in beholding Him.” (1)’”

The caliph then said to Ibn Abī Dāwūd, “What do you say to that?”

He replied, “I shall examine the chain of this ḥadith,” and withdrew.

He thereupon dispatched to ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī—who was in Baghdad, penniless and unable to afford even a dirham—had him brought, and before addressing him at all presented him with ten thousand dirhams, saying, “The Commander of the Faithful has bestowed this upon you.”

He also ordered that all of his arrears of stipend be paid; two years’ allowance was owing to him. He then said, “Abū al-Ḥasan, what is your judgment on the ḥadith of Jarīr ibn ʿAbd Allah concerning the Vision?”

He replied, “It is sound.”

“Do you have anything further to add about it?”

“Let the judge excuse me from that,” he said.

“This,” the judge replied, “is the need of the age.”

He then ordered that garments, perfume, and a mount complete with saddle and bridle be provided for him,

and he continued to