and said to me, “Ibn Rajāʾ must ask his Lord’s forgiveness for saying, ‘He compelled His servants.’”

I said to Abū Abd Allāh, “What, then, is the answer to this question?” He replied:

“He leads astray whom He wills and guides whom He wills.” [al-Nahl: 93]

Al-Marwazī said concerning this question that he heard Abū Abd Allāh condemn both the man who said, “He did not compel them,” and the man who replied, “He compelled them.” Abū Abd Allāh said, “Whenever a man introduces an innovation, people expand the scope of their replies.”

He also said, “The man who answered them with an innovation must ask his Lord’s forgiveness.” He condemned anyone who responded with something of the same kind as speculative theology, if he had no earlier authority to follow in doing so.

Al-Marwazī said:

“Before long, Ahmad ibn Alī arrived from Ukbarā, accompanied by a group of elders and carrying a letter from the people of Ukbarā. I brought Ahmad ibn Alī before Abū Abd Allāh. He said, ‘Abū Abd Allāh, here is the book. Give it to Abū Bakr so that he may tear it up. I will stand on the pulpit of Ukbarā and ask Allah, Mighty and Majestic, for forgiveness.’ Abū Abd Allāh said to me, ‘They ought to accept this from him.’ So they relented toward him.”

We have discussed this matter at length elsewhere and addressed the false premise assumed by the divergent factions: that affirming the true meaning which they call compulsion is incompatible with