He then embraced Islam, and some of the Jews would warn the Muslims, “Do not let this man corrupt your Book as his father corrupted the Torah for us.”

Abū al-ʿAbbās Ibn al-Qāṣṣ, the jurist, said: “Ibn al-Rāwandī never remained loyal to any school or creed. He even wrote for the Jews a treatise entitled al-Naṣrah ʿalā al-Muslimīn (Assistance against the Muslims) in return for a few dirhams they paid him. Once he had taken the money he tried to repudiate the work, so they gave him two hundred dirhams to keep him quiet.”

al-Balkhī said, “Among Ibn al-Rāwandī’s peers none equalled him in rational argumentation. At first he was of good conduct and great modesty, but for various reasons he cast all of that aside; his learning outstripped his judgment.

“Several people have reported that he repented on his death-bed.

“Regarding certain miracles he remarked, ‘An astrologer could say the same.’

“He alleged that the Quran contains grammatical flaws.

“He wrote in defense of the world’s eternity and denied the existence of a Maker.

“He said, ‘They claim that no one can produce the like of the Quran; yet Euclid (1) has produced something no one can equal, and so has Ptolemy (2).’”

It was also said that he attended the lessons of al-Mubarrad, and after a few days al-Mubarrad remarked, “If he were to keep coming to me for a whole year, I would have to rise and seat him in my own place.”

Ibn al-Najjār said, “He died in 298 AH.”