Ṣāliḥ ibn Aḥmad related: My father said: Ishāq ibn Ibrāhīm once said to me, “Absolve me of any blame for having been present when you were beaten.”

I replied, “I have absolved everyone who was there.”

He then asked, “On what basis do you say that it—the Qur’an—is uncreated?”

I answered, “Allah says, ‘Surely, His is the creation and the command’ (Qur’an 7:54); He clearly distinguishes between the creation and the command.”

Ishāq retorted, “The command is created.”

I said, “Glory be to Allah! Can something created bring another creation into existence?”

I added, “What I mean is that He brought all things into being by His command, as in His words: ‘Be!’ (Qur’an 6:73).”

He went on, “From whom do you report that it is uncreated?”

I replied, “From Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad, who said, ‘It is neither Creator nor created.’”

Hanbal said: Abū ʿAbd Allāh had nothing with which to equip himself (1) or spend. I possessed one hundred dirhams, so I took them to my father, who carried them to him. He used them to meet his needs, hired transport, and set out. Yet he never went to Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm (2) nor even greeted him.

Muḥammad reported this to his father, and Ishāq harbored a grudge because of it. He said to the Commander of the Believers, “Aḥmad has left Baghdad without calling upon your protégé Muḥammad.”

Al-Mutawakkil responded, “Bring him back, even if he has already trodden upon my carpet.” Aḥmad had by then reached Busra (3).

So he was brought back. After returning he refrained from teaching ḥadith except to his sons and to us; on occasion he would read to us in our own home.

Later, a man named Rāfiʿ informed al-Mutawakkil that Aḥmad was sheltering an ʿAlid in his house, intending to bring him out and secure allegiance for him.

We knew nothing of this, but one summer night as we were asleep we heard a commotion and saw torches in Abū ʿAbd Allāh’s courtyard, so we hurried over