When Aḥmad was being taken to al-Maʾmūn, I was informed, so I crossed the Euphrates and found him sitting in a roadside khān. I greeted him with the salutation of peace, and he said, “Abū Jaʿfar, you have put yourself to trouble.”

I replied, “Good man, today you are the leading figure and people take their cue from you. By Allah, if you agree to the claim that the Qur’an is created, a host of people will agree; but if you refuse, great numbers will likewise refuse. Besides, even if the man does not kill you, you will still die—death is unavoidable. So fear Allah and do not comply.”

Aḥmad began to weep, repeating, “Whatever Allah wills.” Then he said, “Abū Jaʿfar, say that to me again.” I repeated it, and he kept saying, “Whatever Allah wills.”

Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Ādamī narrated: al-Faḍl ibn Ziyād told us, “I heard Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal say:

‘The first day Isḥāq interrogated me—after I had left his presence—was in Jumādā al-Ākhirah, 218 AH. I sat in my mosque, and a group of people said to me, “Inform us who has given in.” The question weighed on me, but they pressed me again. I replied, “None of our companions has yielded, praise be to Allah.”

‘He then named those who had capitulated and those who had gone along with them in most of what they wanted, adding, “They say: it is a thing that has been produced and created.”

‘He tested them again and again, and he tested me twice. He said to me, “What do you say about the Qur’an?”

‘I answered, “It is the speech of Allah, uncreated.”

‘He made me stand up and had me sit off to one side; then he questioned them, after which he brought me back a second time, questioned me, and began pressing me about resemblance. I said, “There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing” (Q 42:11).

‘He asked, “And what is ‘the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing’?”

‘I replied, “That is exactly how the Exalted has spoken.”’

Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Būshanji said: “While we were in al-Raqqah they kept reminding Abū ʿAbd Allāh about taqiyyah and what has been related concerning it. He said, ‘What will you do with the ḥadith of Khabbāb: “Indeed, those who came before you—one of them would be sawn in two and that would not turn him away from his religion” (1)?’ At that point we realised he would never concede.”