for which he was censured.
It is related that Imām Aḥmad praised al-Ḥārith’s spiritual condition from one angle, yet nonetheless warned against him.
Saʿīd ibn ʿAmr al-Bardhaʿī said: “I was present with Abū Zurʿah al-Rāzī when he was asked about al-Muḥāsibī and his books. He replied, ‘Beware of those books; they are writings of innovation and misguidance. Hold fast to the transmitted reports and you will find sufficiency. Has it ever reached you that Mālik, Sufyān al-Thawrī, or al-Awzāʿī composed works on passing thoughts and inner whisperings? How swift people are to embrace novelties!’ (1)”
Ibn al-Aʿrābī said: “Al-Ḥārith studied jurisprudence, recorded ḥadīth, and was acquainted with the paths of the ascetics. He occupied a recognized station of knowledge, but he involved himself in the debate over the utterance (lafḍ) of the Qurʾān and the question of faith.”
It was also said that Aḥmad boycotted him, so he concealed himself for a time (2).
He died in 243 AH.
- Abū Qudāmah al-Sarakhsī, ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Saʿīd * (Kh, M, S)
An imam, precise reciter, ḥāfiẓ, and author: Abū Qudāmah ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Saʿīd ibn Yaḥyā ibn Burd al-Yashkurī, their client, al-Sarakhsī, who later resided in Nīshāpūr.
He heard (ḥadīth) from: Ḥafṣ ibn Ghiyāth, Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah, Yaḥyā al-Qaṭṭān, Muʿādh ibn