but he died as soon as he had consummated the marriage, whereupon the first husband remarried her and said:

“She returned to us like the sun after darkness,
In the best of states, as though she had never been divorced.”

He then shouted, “Boy! Lay before us fare like our own.” So we remained with him the rest of the day. (1)

Abu Nuʿaym ʿAbd al-Malik ibn al-Hasan al-Isfarayini—the nephew of Abu ʿAwana—said: I heard my father say to the ḥāfiẓ Abū ʿAlī al-Naysaburi, “Abu ʿAwana and I entered Basra, and people said, ‘Abu Khalifa has been boycotted; it is alleged that he has declared, “The Qur’an is created.”’”

Abu ʿAwana said to me, “My son, we must go in to see him.”

He added: Abu ʿAwana said to him, “What do you say concerning the Qur’an?” His face flushed and he fell silent; then he said, “The Qur’an is the speech of Allah, uncreated. Whoever says it is created is a disbeliever. I repent to Allah of every sin—except lying, for I have never lied at all. I seek Allah’s forgiveness.”

He continued: Then Abū ʿAlī rose to my father and kissed his head. My father went on: Abu ʿAwana rose to Abu Khalifa and kissed his shoulder.

Abu Khalifa died in Rabiʿ al-Akhir—or the following month—of the year 305 AH, in Basra.

Imam Shams al-Din ibn Qudamah and others transmitted to us, by authorisation, saying:

ʿUmar ibn Muhammad informed us; Abu al-Mawahib Aḥmad ibn Muhammad ibn Muluk and Abu Bakr Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Baqi narrated to us; they said:

Judge Abu al-Tayyib Ṭahir ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Shafiʿi related to us; Abu Aḥmad Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn al-Ghutrīf narrated to us in the year 371 AH; he said: Abu Khalifa reported to us; Muslim ibn Ibrahim reported to us, from Hammam and Shuʿbah, from Qatadah, from Saʿid ibn al-Musayyab, from Ibn ʿAbbas, who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “The one who takes back his gift is like the one who returns to his vomit.” (2)