and those he drew after him a sword from among the swords of Islam, one He raised up: Abū Bakr Ayyūb ibn Abī Tamīmah al-Sakhtiyānī, whose father’s name was Kaysān, from Basra. He unmasked him, exposed his disgrace, branded him accursed, and laid the evil of that turmoil at his door.

It was of him that Qutaybah ibn Sa‘īd said, “If you see a man from Basra who loves Ayyūb, know that he is on the right path.”

A man asked Ahmad ibn Hanbal, may Allah have mercy on him, “Who is a Sunni?”

He asked, “Where are you from?”

“From Basra,” the man replied.

He asked, “Do you love Ayyūb al-Sakhtiyānī?”

“Yes,” he replied.

“Then you are a Sunni,” he said.

This is the account of the people of