Abū Ghālib ibn al-Bannāʾ reported to us; my father, Abū ʿAlī, reported to us; ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Aḥmad al-Azharī narrated to us; Muḥammad ibn al-ʿAbbās related that Ibn Makhlad informed them; Yazīd ibn Khālid ibn Ṭahmān reported to us; al-Qawārīrī, ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿUmar, narrated the following:

“A shaykh came to me, took me aside, and said: ‘I saw the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—sitting, and with him was Aḥmad ibn Naṣr. He declared: “Upon so-and-so be the curse of Allah—three times—and upon so-and-so and so-and-so, for they are plotting against the religion and its people, and they are scheming against Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal and al-Qawārīrī. Yet, by Allah’s will, they will never harm either of them.”

‘Then he said: “Convey my greetings to Aḥmad and to al-Qawārīrī, and tell them: May Allah reward you well on my behalf and on behalf of my community.”’

With this same chain, Abū ʿAlī said: al-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad al-Nāqid narrated to us; Muḥammad ibn al-ʿAbbās narrated to us; Ibn Abī Dāwūd narrated to me; my father told me:

“I saw in a dream during the days of the inquisition (miḥnah) as though a man emerged from the screened enclosure and was proclaiming: ‘The Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—said: “Follow the two who will come after me: Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal and so-and-so.”’⦗1⦘

“He added: ‘I have forgotten the other name, except that the vision occurred in the days when Aḥmad ibn Naṣr was killed’—meaning: follow them in your present time.”

With this chain: Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad al-Muqrīʾ informed us; Abū Bakr al-Ājurrī informed us; ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-ʿAbbās al-Ṭayālisī narrated to us; Bundār and Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā said:

“We used to read the Qur’an to a blind shaykh. When the doctrine that ‘the Qur’an is created’ was introduced in Baghdad, the shaykh said: ‘If the Qur’an is not created, may Allah erase it from my heart.’

“When we heard this, we left him. After some time we met him again and asked, ‘So-and-so, what has become of the Qur’an in your memory?’

“He replied, ‘Nothing of it remains in my chest.’

“We asked, ‘Not even: Qul huwa Allāhu aḥad—“Say, He is Allah, the One”?’

“He answered, ‘Not even “Qul huwa Allāhu aḥad,” unless I hear it recited by someone else.’”