423 — Al-Firyābī also informed us, saying: Ishāq ibn Rāhawayh narrated to us, saying ⦗847⦘: Abū ʿĀmir al-ʿAqadī informed us, saying: Hishām ibn Saʿd narrated to us, from Saʿīd ibn Abī Hilāl, from Abū al-Aswad al-Duʾalī, who said:

I came to Basra while ʿImrān ibn al-Husayn, a Companion of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, was there. I sat in a gathering where they discussed predestination, and they left my heart troubled. I therefore went to ʿImrān ibn al-Husayn and said, “Abū Nujayd, I sat in a gathering where they discussed predestination, and they left my heart troubled. Would you tell me about it?”

He replied, “Yes. You should know that if Allah, Mighty and Majestic, were to punish the inhabitants of the heavens and the inhabitants of the earth, He would punish them under circumstances in which He would not be unjust to them. If He were to have mercy on them, His mercy would encompass them all the more. And if you possessed an amount of gold equal to Mount Uhud and spent it, none of it would be accepted from you until you believed in predestination in its entirety—its good and its evil. You will come to Medina and meet there ⦗848⦘ Ubayy ibn Kaʿb and ʿAbd Allah ibn Masʿūd.”

I then came to Medina and sat in a gathering attended by ʿAbd Allah ibn Masʿūd and Ubayy ibn Kaʿb. I said to Ubayy, “May Allah set you aright. I came to Basra and sat in a gathering where they discussed predestination, and they left my heart troubled. Would you tell me about it?”

He replied, “Yes. You should know that if Allah Most High were to punish the inhabitants of the heavens and the inhabitants of the earth, then, when He punished them, He would not be unjust to them. If He were to have mercy on them, His mercy would encompass them all the more. And if you possessed an amount of gold equal to Mount Uhud and spent it, none of it would be accepted from you until you believed in predestination—its good and its evil.”

Ubayy then said, “Abū ʿAbd al-Rahmān, relate it to your brother.” Abū al-Aswad said: ʿAbd Allah then related to me the same thing that Ubayy ibn Kaʿb had related to me.