and obedience.

This initiative from Abū ʿAbd Allāh pleased me, so I went to al-Ḥārith, asked him to attend, and said, “Ask your companions to come as well.”

He replied, “O Ismāʿīl, they are many, so give them nothing more than kusb (1) and dates, and provide as much of the two as you can.”

I did exactly as he instructed and informed Abū ʿAbd Allāh. He arrived after the maghrib prayer, went up to an upper room, and applied himself to his regular devotions. Al-Ḥārith and his companions also arrived; they ate, then rose to pray. After that prayer, they performed no additional prayers but sat before al-Ḥārith in silence until nearly midnight. Then one of them began and asked a question. Al-Ḥārith started to speak while they listened, as though birds were perched upon their heads: some of them wept, others cried aloud.

I went upstairs to see how Abū ʿAbd Allāh was faring, and I found him visibly shaken. I asked, “How did you find them?”

He said, “I do not recall ever seeing people like these, nor have I heard speech on the knowledge of realities like this man’s words. Even so, given what I have described, I do not think it advisable for you to keep their company.”

He then rose and left.

Al-Sulamī said: I heard Abū al-Qāsim al-Naṣrabādhī say, “News reached me that al-Ḥārith had spoken on some theological matter, so Aḥmad severed relations with him. Al-Ḥārith hid in a house where he eventually died, and only four people performed his funeral prayer.”

Section

Ibn al-Jawzī said: The Imām did not approve of publishing books and forbade people to write down his words and legal questions. Had he approved, he would have produced many works. He did, however, compile the Musnad, which comprises thirty thousand hadiths, and he used to say to his son ʿAbd Allāh, “Safeguard this Musnad, for it will be an authority for the people” (2), as well as a Tafsīr containing one hundred and twenty thousand