143 — Al-Firyābī narrated to us, saying: Muhammad ibn Dāwūd narrated to me, saying: Muslim ibn Ibrāhīm narrated to us, saying: Mahdī ibn Maymūn narrated to us, saying: I heard Muhammad—meaning Ibn Sīrīn—when a man disputed with him over some matter. Muhammad said, “I know what you are seeking, and I am better versed in disputation than you are, but I will not dispute with you.” ⦗454⦘
Muhammad ibn al-Husayn said: Have you not heard—may Allah have mercy on you—the aforementioned words of Abū Qilāba: “Do not sit with those who follow their whims, and do not argue with them. I cannot be sure that they will not plunge you into misguidance or cast you into confusion regarding your religion through some of the very matters that confused them”?
Have you not heard the words of al-Hasan? When someone asked him about an issue and said, “Will you not debate me about religion?” al-Hasan replied, “As for me, I have clearly discerned my religion. If you have lost yours, then go and seek it.”
Have you not heard the words of Umar ibn Abd al-Azīz: “Whoever makes his religion a target for disputation will frequently shift from one position to another”?
Muhammad ibn al-Husayn (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Whoever follows the example of these imams will preserve his religion, if Allah Most High wills.
If someone were to ask, “What if circumstances compel me at some point to debate them and establish the proof against them? Should I not debate them?”
He would be told: Such necessity arises only when there is a ruler who espouses a corrupt doctrine, puts the people ⦗455⦘ to the test, and calls them to his doctrine. This is what occurred in the time of Ahmad ibn Hanbal: three caliphs put the people to the test and called them to their corrupt doctrine. The scholars then had no alternative but to defend the religion. Their purpose was to enable the common people to distinguish truth from falsehood. They therefore debated them out of necessity, not by choice. Allah Most High vindicated the truth upheld by Ahmad ibn Hanbal and those who followed his path, humbled the Mu‘tazila, and exposed them. The common people came to know that, until the Day of Resurrection, the truth was what Ahmad and those who followed him upheld. I pray that Allah the Generous will forever spare the scholars among Ahl al-Sunnah wa-al-Jamā‘a from any such ordeal.
I was informed that al-Muhtadī (may Allah have mercy on him) said: “No one ever took my father—meaning al-Wāthiq—so aback as an old man who was brought from al-Masīsa. He remained in prison for some time. Then one day my father remembered him and said, ‘Bring me the old man.’
“He was brought before him in shackles. When he stood before him, he offered the greeting of peace, but al-Wāthiq did not return it. The old man said to him, ‘O Commander of the Faithful, you have not observed toward me the etiquette ordained by Allah Most High or the etiquette of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). Allah Most High says: “And when ⦗456⦘ you are greeted with a greeting, respond with one better than it, or return it” [al-Nisā’: 86]. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) also commanded that greetings be returned.’
“Al-Wāthiq then said, ‘And peace be upon you.’ He then said to Ibn Abī Du’ād, ‘Question him.’
“The old man said, ‘O Commander of the Faithful, I am imprisoned and shackled. I perform my prayers in prison with dry ablution because I have been denied water. Order that my shackles be removed and that I be given water with which to purify myself and pray; then question me.’
“He issued the order, so the man’s shackles were removed and he was given water. He performed ablution and prayed. Al-Wāthiq then said to Ibn Abī Du’ād, ‘Question him.’
“The old man said, ‘The questioning is mine. Command him to answer me.’ Al-Wāthiq said, ‘Ask.’
“The old man turned to Ibn Abī Du’ād and said, ‘Tell me: Was this doctrine to which you call the people something to which the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) called?’
“He replied, ‘No.’
“The old man asked, ‘Was it something to which Abū Bakr al-Siddīq called after him?’
“He replied, ‘No.’
“He asked, ‘Was it something to which Umar ibn al-Khattāb called after them?’
“He replied, ‘No.’
“He asked, ‘Was it something to which Uthmān ibn Affān called after them?’
“He replied, ‘No.’
“He asked, ‘Was it something to which Ali ibn Abī Tālib called after them?’
“He replied, ‘No.’
“The old man then said, ‘So you call the people to something to which neither the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), Abū Bakr, Umar, Uthmān, nor Ali—may Allah be pleased with them—called ⦗457⦘? You have only two possible answers: either they knew it or they were ignorant of it. If you say that they knew it but remained silent about it, then the same silence that was permissible for them is permissible for both us and you. But if you say that they were ignorant of it while you knew it, then you vile wretch, son of a vile wretch! Could the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and the rightly guided caliphs (may Allah be pleased with them) have been ignorant of something known to you and your companions?’
“Al-Muhtadī continued: ‘I saw my father leap to his feet, withdraw to one side, and stuff his garment into his mouth as he laughed. He kept saying, “He has spoken the truth! We have only two possible answers: either they were ignorant of it or they knew it. If we say that they knew it but remained silent about it, then the same silence that was permissible for them is permissible for us. But if we say that they were ignorant of it while you knew it, then you vile wretch, son of a vile wretch! Could the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and his Companions have been ignorant of something known to you and your companions?”
“‘He then said, “O Ahmad!”
“‘I replied, “At your service.”
“‘He said, “I do not mean you; I mean Ibn Abī Du’ād.” He rushed toward him and said, “Give this old man provisions and send him away from our city.”’”
Muhammad ibn al-Husayn said: After this, we enjoin the preservation of the sunnahs transmitted from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), the practices of his Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) and of those who followed them with excellence, and the teachings of the Muslim imams, such as Mālik ibn ⦗458⦘ Anas, al-Awzā‘ī, Sufyān al-Thawrī, Ibn al-Mubārak and their peers, al-Shāfi‘ī (may Allah be pleased with him), Ahmad ibn Hanbal, al-Qāsim ibn Sallām, and those scholars who followed their path. Those other than them are to be cast aside. We neither debate, argue, nor quarrel. If one encounters an innovator on a road, one should take another road; and if one attends a gathering in which an innovator is present, one should leave it. This is how our departed predecessors instructed us.