Al-Wāthiq Hārūn was one of the staunchest advocates of the claim that the Quran is created. He preached it night and day, in secret and in public, relying only on the course taken by his father al-Muʿtaṣim and his uncle al-Maʾmūn—without any proof or evidence, argument or demonstration, nor any support from the sunnah or the Quran (1).

Because of this, a group of Baghdadis gathered around Aḥmad ibn Naṣr, and crowds numbering in the thousands rallied to him. Two men set about calling people to pledge allegiance to Aḥmad ibn Naṣr: Abū Hārūn al-Sarrāj, who canvassed the eastern side of the city, and Ṭālib (2), who canvassed the western side.

When the month of Shaʿbān of that year arrived, a clandestine oath of allegiance was concluded with Aḥmad ibn Naṣr al-Khuzaʿī on the basis of enjoining right, forbidding wrong, and rising up against the ruler because of his innovation and his call to the doctrine that the Quran is created (3).

They agreed that on the third night of Shaʿbān—the night preceding Friday—a drum would be beaten after dark so that those who had pledged allegiance could assemble at a pre-arranged location. Ṭālib and Abū Hārūn spent money on their followers, giving each man a dinar. Among those who received a payment were two members of Banū Ashras who were accustomed to drinking wine. On the night of Thursday the pair drank with some of their companions and assumed that that night was the appointed time, though it was in fact a night early. They therefore began beating a drum in the night to summon the people, but no one came, the plan collapsed, and the night guards heard the commotion. They informed the deputy governor, Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Muṣʿab, who was acting for his brother Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm during the latter’s absence from Baghdad. By morning the populace was in confusion. The deputy exerted himself to seize the two men; he punished them and they confessed at once. He then sought out Aḥmad ibn Naṣr, seized one of his servants, questioned him, and the servant confessed to the same as the two men had confessed. The deputy thereupon gathered a number of the leading supporters of Aḥmad ibn Naṣr, placed them with him, and sent them all to the caliph in Surr Man Raʾā. This occurred on the last [day of] Shaʿbān of that year (4).

A group of notable figures was summoned before the caliph, and the judge Aḥmad ibn Abī Duʾād the Muʿtazilī was present, yet he displayed no reproach toward Aḥmad ibn Naṣr.

When Aḥmad ibn Naṣr was brought to stand before the caliph al-Wāthiq, the caliph did not censure him for anything he had done in relation to the public’s pledge to him for enjoining good and forbidding wrong; instead he set that aside and asked him:

‘What do you say about the Quran?’

He replied, ‘It is the speech of Allah.’

The caliph asked, ‘Is it created?’

He answered, ‘It is the speech of Allah.’

Aḥmad ibn Naṣr had already composed himself and made ready (5); he had applied ḥanūṭ (burial perfume) to his body and used nūr (a depilatory powder) (6).

Al-Wāthiq then said to him, ‘And what do you say about your Lord—will you see Him on the Day of Resurrection?’

He replied, ‘O Commander…’