al-Ḥajjāj related: “I heard Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan (1), the close companion of Abū Ḥanīfah, say: ‘Abū Ḥanīfah declared, “May Allah curse ʿAmr ibn ʿUbayd, for he opened the door for people to indulge in kalām about matters that do not concern them (2). Abū Ḥanīfah used to urge us to devote ourselves to fiqh and forbid us from speculative theology.”’
Shaykh al-Islām said: Abū al-Faḍl al-Jārūdī narrated to us (3,4,5): Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad narrated to us; Zakariyyā ibn Yaḥyā transmitted to us; I heard Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl say (6): I heard al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī al-Karābīsī (7) say: “I was in the presence of al-Shāfiʿī when Bishr al-Marīsī entered. Al-Shāfiʿī said to Bishr (8,9): ‘Tell me about the doctrine you are promoting: does it rest on an explicit Qur’ānic text, a binding obligation, an established sunnah, and have you found among the salaf any examination of it or questioning about it?’ Bishr replied, ‘No—except that we cannot dispense with it.’ Al-Shāfiʿī then said, ‘You have confessed your own error (10); so where do you stand…’” (the report continues).
(1) All manuscripts read “al-Husayn,” which is incorrect. The correct name, attested in Dhamm al-Kalam and Sun al-Mantiq wa al-Kalam, is Abu ʿAbdullah Muhammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Shaybānī. His biography appears above on p. 41.
(2) In edition S it reads “la yunʿīnahum” (la yuniʿinhum, “he does not specify them”), a misprint.
(3) In the manuscript of Dhamm al-Kalam by Abu Ismāʿīl al-Harawī, vol. VI, Ṭabaqa VI, fols. 16–17. See also Sun al-Mantiq wa al-Kalam by al-Suyūṭī, p. 63.
(4) The text enclosed in parentheses is an addition drawn from Dhamm al-Kalam.
(5) “Abu al-Faḍl” is omitted in Dhamm al-Kalam.
(6) The phrase “yaqūl:” (“he says:”) is omitted in Dhamm al-Kalam.
(7) All copies read “al-Karanīs,” which is erroneous. The correct name, found in Dhamm al-Kalam and Sun al-Mantiq wa al-Kalam, is al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī ibn Yazīd al-Karrābīsī. His biography was given above.
(8) In the original it reads “faqālahu” (“he stated it”), a reading confirmed by S, T, Dhamm al-Kalam, and Sun al-Mantiq wa al-Kalam.
(9) In the original it reads “tadʿūna” (“you claim”), a reading confirmed by S, T, Dhamm al-Kalam, and Sun al-Mantiq wa al-Kalam.
(10) In Dhamm al-Kalam it reads “binafsik” (“by yourself”).