I had no way out but to comply with them; I sat in a dark cell for eight months, an iron shackle of eight mina (1) on my leg, until I feared I would lose my sight.
So if they say, “He yielded to them,”—others had done so before me; someone far better than I had already accepted what they demanded.
Its chain of transmission is broken.
Al-Hakim related it, saying: “I was informed by Abu al-Hasan Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Zuhayr; I heard ‘Ali ibn Salamah….”
Ibn ‘Adi said: “I heard Musaddad ibn Abi Yusuf al-Qulusi say: I heard my father say, ‘I said to Ibn al-Madini, “Is a man like you willing to give the answer you gave?”’ He replied, ‘Abu Yusuf, how lightly you regard the sword!’”
Al-Hakim said: “I heard Abu ‘Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Ya‘qub, the ḥadith master, extolling Ibn al-Madini’s virtues and pre-eminence. Someone remarked, ‘But ‘Amr ibn ‘Ali spoke against him.’ He answered, ‘By Allah, if I had the strength I would go to Basra and urinate on ‘Amr’s grave.’”
Ibn ‘Allan and others authorized us, saying: “Al-Kindi informed us; al-Shaybani informed us; al-Khatib informed us; Abu Nu‘aym the ḥadith scholar informed us; Musa ibn Ibrahim ibn al-Nadr the perfumer narrated to us; Muhammad ibn ‘Uthman ibn Abi Shaybah narrated to us: I heard ‘Ali on the pulpit say,
‘Whoever claims that the Qur’an is created is a disbeliever; whoever claims that Allah will not be seen is a disbeliever; and whoever claims that Allah did not truly speak to Moses is a disbeliever.’”
Ibn Makhlad al-‘Attar reported: “Muhammad ibn ‘Uthman narrated to us: I heard Ibn al-Madini say, two months before his death,
‘The Qur’an is the Speech of Allah, uncreated. Whoever says that it is created is a disbeliever.’”