—he became thirsty, so he said to the cup-bearer, “Hand me something.”
The man passed him a goblet containing water and ice. He took it, looked into it, then returned it without drinking. I could only marvel at his fortitude against hunger and thirst while faced with such terror.

Salih said: During those days I kept searching and scheming for a way to sneak him some food, even a single loaf, but I simply could not manage it.

A man who was with him told me that he checked on him during the three days they debated with him, and he did not commit a single grammatical slip in any word. He added, “I never thought anyone could match his courage and the firmness of his heart.”

Hanbal said: I heard Abu ʿAbdillah say, “My mind left me time and again; whenever the beating was lifted I would come back to myself, and whenever I relaxed and collapsed the blows would cease—this happened to me repeatedly.

“I saw him—meaning al-Muʿtaṣim—sitting in the sun with no shade. I had regained consciousness (1) and heard him say to Ibn Abi Duʿad, ‘I have sinned in the matter of this man.’ Ibn Abi Duʿad replied, ‘Commander of the Faithful, by Allah, he is a disbelieving polytheist who has committed association without any right!’ He would keep at him until he turned him away from what he intended.

“Al-Muʿtaṣim had wished to release me without any flogging, but he, and Ishaq b. Ibrahim as well, would not leave him alone.”

Hanbal continued: It reached me that al-Muʿtaṣim asked Ibn Abi Duʿad after Abu ʿAbdillah had been whipped, “How many lashes did he receive?” He answered, “Four—or a little over thirty lashes.”

Abu al-Faḍl ʿUbaydullah al-Zuhri said: al-Marwazi related, “I said—while Abu ʿAbdillah was between the hanbazīn (2)—‘Teacher, Allah, exalted is He, says, “Do not kill yourselves” (al-Nisa 4:29).’ He replied, ‘Marwazi, go out and look.’ So I went out to the courtyard of the residence…"