the petitions as they were read out to him from first to last. He would order that a rescript be written on each one, have it duly recorded, and then hand it back to its owner. That pleased me, and I kept looking at him; he noticed, looked back at me, and I lowered my gaze. This happened several times until he said, “Ṣāliḥ!”

I replied, “At your service, Commander of the Faithful,” and sprang to my feet.

He asked, “Is there something within you that you wish to say?”

I said, “Yes.”

He said, “Return to your seat.”

When the session ended he called me aside in private and said, “Ṣāliḥ, will you tell me what crossed your mind, or shall I?”

I answered, “Commander of the Faithful, as you command.”

He said, “Very well, I shall speak. What crossed your mind was that you approved of what you saw from us and you said to yourself: ‘What sort of caliph is ours if he does not declare the Qur’an to be created?’ A grave thought then came upon me, and I said to myself, ‘O soul, can you die before the time appointed for you?’”

I said, “Nothing entered my mind except what you have just stated.”

He lowered his head for a while, then said, “Woe to you! Listen—by God, you shall surely hear the truth.”

Relief flooded me and I said, “My master, who is more entitled to speak the truth than you, when you are the Caliph of the Lord of all realms?”

He said, “From the early days of al-Wāthiq I have continued to say that the Qur’an is created”—(I say: he was only a youth in al-Wāthiq’s time, so the story is unsound)—“until Aḥmad ibn Abī Duʾād brought before us an elderly shaykh from Adana. The man was led in to al-Wāthiq in fetters, and I saw that the caliph felt shy before him, softened toward him, and drew him near. The shaykh greeted and prayed, and al-Wāthiq said, ‘Shaykh, debate with Ibn Abī Duʾād.’

The shaykh replied, ‘Commander of the Faithful, they have set up Ibn Abī Duʾād, yet he is too weak for debate.’

Al-Wāthiq grew angry and said, ‘Is he too weak to debate you?’

The shaykh said, ‘Commander of the Faithful, be gentle. Grant me leave to debate him, and safeguard both him and me.’

Al-Wāthiq said, ‘I shall.’

The shaykh then said, ‘Aḥmad, tell me about this doctrine of yours: is it an obligatory doctrine, an integral part of the creed, so that the religion is incomplete unless it is proclaimed?’

He answered, ‘Yes.’

The shaykh asked, ‘Then inform me: when the Messenger of God ﷺ was sent, did he conceal anything of what God had commanded concerning their religion?’

He replied, ‘No.’

The shaykh said, ‘Did he summon the community to this doctrine of yours?’

Ibn Abī Duʾād fell silent, and the shaykh turned to al-Wāthiq and said, ‘Commander of the Faithful, that is one.’ He said: