said the following day:

“Last night I saw in a dream that Ahmad ibn al-Sarī, the ascetic of Marw, struck me with his foot and then said: ‘You seem to have doubts concerning these Kullābīs.’”

He said: “Then he looked at Muhammad ibn Ishāq and said:

‘This is a message for mankind, that they may be warned by it, that they may know that He is but One God, and that those of understanding may take heed.’”

(Ibrāhīm: 52)

This account is related at length elsewhere. Most people of knowledge and religion sided with Ibn Khuzayma against the Kullābīs.

[Al-Ansārī’s statement condemning speculative theology]

Abū Ismā‘īl al-Ansārī, known as Shaykh al-Islām, mentioned in his book Dhamm al-Kalām (Censure of Speculative Theology):

“I heard Abū Nasr ibn Abī Sa‘īd al-Raddād say that he heard Ibrāhīm ibn Ismā‘īl al-Khallāl say: ‘I took Ibn Khuzayma’s letter concerning al-Sibghī and al-Thaqafī to the Commander of the Faithful, who issued a written order for crucifixion. Ibn Khuzayma said: “No! The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, knew that certain people were hypocrites, yet he did not crucify them.”’”

Abū Ismā‘īl said:

“I heard Ismā‘īl ibn Abd al-Rahmān al-Sābūnī say: ‘Al-Sibghī and al-Thaqafī were called upon to repent at Ibn Khuzayma’s grave.’”

He also said:

“I heard Ahmad ibn Abī Nasr say: ‘We saw Muhammad ibn al-Husayn al-Sulamī—meaning Abū Abd al-Rahmān al-Sulamī, the author of the well-known works on the Sufi path—cursing the Kullābīs.’”