—except, it seems, when a meal was involved! Yet even then he would allow no discussion of the Salafi call: he would eat and leave. All the while he went on hinting, sniping, and reviling—no different from the other ignorant, spiteful preachers.

As the years rolled by, Abu Ghudda was appointed lecturer at the Faculty of Sharīʿah in Riyadh. He spent his summer vacations in Lebanon and visited the house and library of our brother, Ustadh Zuhayr al-Shāwish—who at that time was his friend—quite often. I would occasionally meet him there, but he was still determined to avoid any debate or discussion, despite Ustadh Zuhayr’s mediation and persistent urging; it was all to no avail. Part of brother Zuhayr’s wise policy with him in those days was to invite him now and then to lead us in prayer, thereby demonstrating in practice that the charge of takfīr he and others were spreading was groundless, the proof being that I prayed behind him—even though his manner of prayer conflicts with the sound sunnah in many of its rulings! He seemed pleased at being given precedence, stepping forward without the slightest hesitation, apology, or offer to let someone else lead—almost as though he did not, in return, wish to show us that he considered it valid to pray behind the man who was praying behind him!

Outward appearances therefore suggested that, of late, Abu Ghudda had become a peaceable soul, one who would flee from a calm scholarly discussion—let alone a fiery sectarian dispute—content with his blind partisanship for “the Imam of the imams and the foremost of the ummah, Abū Ḥanīfah, may Allah have mercy on him … .”

Suddenly, however, it became clear that taḥt jild al-ḍaʾn qalb al-aḏʾub (beneath a sheep’s fleece there beats the heart of a wolf) and that al-ṭabʿ ghalaba al-taṭabbuʿ (one’s nature inevitably overpowers any acquired habit), for he had resumed a campaign