all of them. I then found myself standing before Allah, exalted is He, and He said to me, “ʿUbayd Allah, why did you venture to speak about My servants?”
I replied, “My Lord, they were tampering with Your religion (1).”
He said, “You have spoken the truth.”

After that, Ṭahir al-Khallaqani was brought forward. I lodged my complaint against him before my Lord, whereupon he was given the prescribed punishment—one hundred lashes—then ordered to prison. Next it was proclaimed: “Attach ʿUbayd Allah to his companions, to Abu ʿAbd Allah, Abu ʿAbd Allah, and Abu ʿAbd Allah—Sufyan, Malik, and Ahmad ibn Hanbal (2).”

This vision was also transmitted from Ibn Wārah by Ibn Abī Ḥātim (3) and by Abu al-Qasim, the nephew of Abu Zurʿah.

Abu Jaʿfar Muhammad ibn ʿAli, the copyist of Abu Zurʿah, said: “We were with Abu Zurʿah at Mashharān while he was in the marketplace, and with him were Abu Ḥātim, Ibn Wārah, al-Munḏhir ibn Shādhān, and others. They mentioned the ḥadith of prompting: ‘Prompt your dying ones to say: There is no god but Allah (4),’ but they felt too shy to prompt Abu Zurʿah himself, so they said, ‘Come, let us rehearse the ḥadith.’

Ibn Wārah began: ‘Abu ʿĀṣim narrated to us; ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn Jaʿfar narrated; from Ṣāliḥ…,’ and he kept repeating ‘Ibn Abī—’ without finishing it.

Abu Ḥātim said: ‘Bundār narrated to us; Abu ʿĀṣim narrated to us; from ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn Jaʿfar; from Ṣāliḥ…,’ and he did not go beyond that. The rest remained silent. Then Abu Zurʿah, still in the marketplace, declared:

‘Bundār narrated to us; Abu ʿĀṣim narrated to us; ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd narrated to us; from Ṣāliḥ ibn Abī ʿUrayb; from Kathīr ibn Murrah; from Muʿādh…’