Ibn al-Saʿsāʿ al-Miṣrī related that he saw Abū Bakr b. al-Nābulusī in a dream after the latter had been crucified; he appeared in the finest condition. Ibn al-Saʿsāʿ asked, “What has Allah done with you?” He replied:

My Sovereign has bestowed on me unending honor,
And promised me that victory is close at hand;
He drew me near—indeed, He brought me nigh—
And said, “Live in delight within My presence.” (1)

106 – Al-Nuʿmān Abū Ḥanīfa b. Muḥammad b. Manṣūr al-Maghribī*
A celebrated scholar—yet a renegade—who served as chief judge under the Ubaydid regime: Abū Ḥanīfa al-Nuʿmān b. Muḥammad b. Manṣūr al-Maghribī.

He had been a Mālikī, but then defected to the esoteric Bāṭinī sect. He authored the book Us al-Daʿwa, cast the religion behind his back, produced works praising some figures and vilifying others, attacked the leading imams of the faith, and utterly shed the skin of Islam—may he be cast far away.

He flattered the regime—or rather, he openly sided with them. He was constantly in the company of al-Muʿizz Abū Tamīm, the founder of Cairo.

Gifted with an impressive command of the various sciences, of jurisprudence, and of points of legal disagreement, and possessed of great stamina in debate, his very learning became a calamity for him.

He composed a refutation of Imām Abū Ḥanīfa in matters of fiqh, and of Mālik—