Abū Shaykh said: During his tenure the number of court witnesses multiplied and his administration ran smoothly, until a dispute arose between him and ʿAlī ibn Mattawih, who had been his friend for many years. It so happened that a group of frontier guards came to Ibn Mattawih and complained to him about the dilapidated ribāṭs and the delay in their stipends. ʿAlī ibn Mattawih grew indignant and, speaking of Ibn Abī ʿĀṣim, went so far as to say, “He cannot even recite Sūrah al-Ḥamd (al-Fātiḥah) correctly.”
When the remark reached Ibn Abī ʿĀṣim he feigned ignorance of it until the witnesses assembled in his court. He then drew them in, recited Sūrah al-Ḥamd for them, rendered it precisely, and explained its exegesis and meanings. Turning to them he asked, “Are you satisfied?”
They replied, “Yes, indeed.”
He then said, “So what do you say of the person who claims I am unable to recite Sūrah al-Ḥamd properly?”
They answered, “He is a liar.”
They had not understood his real purpose, and on that basis Ibn Abī ʿĀṣim placed ʿAlī ibn Mattawih under legal interdiction.
The people were thrown into turmoil and gathered at the door of Abū Laylā—meaning al-Ḥārith ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz—who was acting in place of his brother ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz over the city. This took place in the year (281) AH. Abū Laylā compelled him to rescind the interdiction, so he annulled it. Shortly thereafter his eyesight weakened and word came relieving him of his post.
Abū Bakr ibn Abī ʿAlī said: I heard some of our teachers relate that he had issued the writ of interdiction and placed it in his leather satchel (1). The authorities then dispatched messengers demanding that he revoke it, but he refused, and was barred from going to the mosque for several days. He bore it patiently while envoys kept coming to him. He would say, “I have issued a ruling, and it lies sealed in my satchel. Whoever wishes to remove it may do so, but not with my consent.”
They could not prevail until his heart was softened; only then did he take it out and cancel it.
Abū Mūsā al-Madīnī said: I found, in the handwriting of one of the early scholars of Isfahān in a work he compiled on its judges, the entry: Ibrāhīm ibn Aḥmad al-Khaṭṭābī.