raised the inkwell in his hand, and a large crowd gathered around him (1).

Muḥammad ibn Ṣāliḥ ibn Hānīʾ narrated to us: Yaḥyā ibn Muḥammad narrated to us—I heard ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī say, “From what I know of our companions, the one with the best retention is Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal; yet when he found it necessary to transmit, he would scarcely do so except from a written book.”

I (the author) remark: That practice is nearer to careful verification and God-fearing caution, and further removed from self-admiration.

He also said: I heard Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb say: I heard Yaḥyā ibn Muḥammad—I heard Musaddad—say, “Al-jiʿa is the nabīdh prepared from barley.” (2)

Among the transmissions from al-Dhuhli and his son is the following: The Imām Abū al-Ḥusayn ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad informed us; Jaʿfar ibn ʿAlī informed us; Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad, the ḥāfiẓ, informed us; Thābit ibn Bundār informed us; Abū Bakr al-Barqānī informed us; we read before Abū al-ʿAbbās ibn Ḥamdān, and he said, “Muḥammad ibn Nuʿaym has narrated to you, saying: I heard Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā al-Dhuhli declare, ‘Faith is word and deed; it increases and decreases. The Quran is the speech of Allah, uncreated in every respect and from every angle. We do not approve of engaging in the innovations they have introduced, such as talking about the voices, the pens, the ink, the paper, or the categories of al-matlī, al-mutlā, and the reciter. All of this, in our view, is an innovation. Whoever claims that the Quran is created is, to us, a Jahmite—about that there is no doubt or dispute.’”