with the names of the proponents of religious innovation. He persecuted the distinguished imams, removed Abū 'Uthmān al-Naysābūrī from delivering the sermon in Nishapur, and entrusted it to a Hanafī, who led the congregation. The teacher Abū al-Qāsim and Abū al-Ma'ālī went out near the city.”

He then mentioned the end of that persecution during the reign of that sultan’s son and the vizierate of Nizām.

What al-Bayhaqī reported about him is what is known from his books and among the leading scholars of the Companions. Ibn 'Asākir cited several people whose statements agreed with al-Bayhaqī’s account. He mentioned that Abū al-Hasan al-Qābisī—one of the foremost Mālikī imams in the Maghreb—was asked about him, and his reply included:

“Know that Abū al-Hasan al-Ash'arī engaged in this discipline—meaning dialectical theology—only to clarify the teachings of the Sunnah, strengthen adherence to them, and dispel doubts concerning them.”

Abū Bakr ibn Fūrak said:

“Shaykh Abū al-Hasan al-Ash'arī moved