the flour is an innovation, and there ought to be no innovation in a sunnah practice. (1)

He said: As for his refutations of the dissenters among the Murjiʾah and the Jahmiyyah, they are wide-spread and well-known. (2)

Al-Hakim related: I heard Muhammad ibn Salih say, “I heard Abu Saʿid Muhammad Shadhan say, ‘I heard Muhammad ibn Rafiʿ say: I visited Muhammad ibn Aslam, kissed him between the eyes, and could liken him only to the Companions. He said to me, ‘O Abu ʿAbd Allah, may Allah reward you with good on behalf of Islam.’”

I also heard Abu Ishaq al-Muzakki say: I heard Ibn Khuzaymah declare, “The spiritual mentor (rabbani) of this ummah narrated to us—Muhammad ibn Aslam al-Tusi.”

Ahmad ibn Salamah reported: Muhammad ibn Aslam told us, “When I was brought before ʿAbd Allah ibn Tahir and did not greet him with the salutation of rulership, he became angry and said, ‘You people have taken a man of the qiblah and declared him an unbeliever!’ Someone remarked, ‘What has reached the emir has indeed taken place.’

Ibn Tahir then said, ‘The strap of ʿUmar ibn al-Khattab’s sandal is better than you. He used to raise his head toward the sky, and it has reached me that you do not raise your head toward the sky.’

So I lifted my head like this toward the sky for a moment and then said, ‘And why should I not raise my head toward the sky? From whom else do I hope for good if not from the One who is in the sky? But I heard Muʾammal ibn Ismaʿil say, “I heard Sufyan say, ‘Looking at your faces is a sin.’”’

He signaled with his hand like this: ‘Detain him.’

Ibn Aslam said: ‘We remained—there were fourteen shaykhs—and I was imprisoned for fourteen…’