al-Walīd to Abū Yūsuf, may Allah have mercy on him, and said, ‘You forbid me to engage in speculative theology, yet Bishr al-Marīsī, ‘Alī al-Ahwal, and so-and-so engage in it.’

He asked, ‘What do they say?’

He replied, ‘They say that Allah is everywhere.’

Abū Yūsuf sent for them, saying, ‘Bring them to me.’ They came to him, but Bishr had already got up, so ‘Alī al-Ahwal and the old man—meaning the other man—were brought. Abū Yūsuf looked at the old man and said, ‘If you were fit to be disciplined, I would have made you suffer.’ He then ordered him to be taken to