In it (1) he writes:
“Among the events that unfolded (2) in Nishapur at the opening of the year 445 AH (3) was a grievous calamity (4) that struck the people of faith, injuring them severely and stripping away the veil of their patience (5).”
He then continues (6):
“This occurred because some introduced the practice of cursing the Imām of the religion, the lamp of those endowed (7) with certainty, the reviver of the Sunnah, the suppressor of innovation, the champion of truth, and the sincere adviser to creation, Abū al-Ḥasan (8) al-Ashʿarī.”
He further states in the same treatise (9):
“When the Most Generous God granted the people of Islam the reins (10) of the exalted dominion—secured by heavenly power over the necks of the nations—the illustrious king, the Shahanshah (11), the Caliph’s right hand, …”
= See al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya (The Beginning and the End) by Ibn Kathir, vol. 12, p. 70; see also my remarks on Abu al-Qasim al-Qushayri and his Risala (Treatise), p. 82.
(1) Tabyin Kadhb al-Muftari (Clarification of the Impostor’s Falsehood) by Ibn Asakir, pp. 110–111.
(2) In the original text: “qal wa fiha mimma.” This reading is confirmed by manuscripts S and T and by Tabyin Kadhb al-Muftari.
(3) In Tabyin Kadhb al-Muftari: “wa arbaumiah min al-hijra” (“and four hundred [years] from the Hijra”).
(4) In the original text: “ma iddaʿa.” This reading is confirmed by manuscripts S and T and by Tabyin Kadhb al-Muftari.
(5) In Tabyin Kadhb al-Muftari: “… ahl al-din ila shaq sudur sabrihim wa kashf qina‘ darrihim …” (“…the people of religion, to rend open the hearts of their patience and unveil the veil of their affliction…”).
(6) Two lines after the preceding passage.
(7) The bracketed text is an addition found in manuscripts S and T and in Tabyin Kadhb al-Muftari; it does not include the term “qaddam” (offered). In the original: “wa siraj qaddam al-yaqin” (“and a lamp that offered certainty”); in S and T: “wa siraj qaddam dhuww al-yaqin” (“and a lamp offered to those of certainty”).
(8) In Tabyin Kadhb al-Muftari: “al-khalq al-turki al-radi Abi al-Hasan.”
(9) That is, Abu al-Qasim al-Qushayri in his treatise Shikaya Ahl al-Sunnah (“Complaint of the People of the Sunnah”), as cited by Ibn Asakir in the above source; the passage occurs three lines below the preceding text.
(10) In Tabyin Kadhb al-Muftari: “bi-zaman” (“in a time”).
(11) “Shahanshah” is intended to mean “king of kings”; it is a Persian term, and the use of such titles to …