and its lower plate had been joined and fastened with three(1) rivets. When he reached him, he struck him with it on the shoulder—he was bound with a rope and made to stand upon a leather mat—then struck him again on the head, and finally thrust the Samṣāmah into his abdomen. He—may Allah have mercy on him—fell slain upon the mat, dead. Indeed, we belong to Allah and to Him we shall return.
Sīmā the Damascene then drew his sword, struck off his neck, and severed his head. The body was carried sideways until it was brought [him] to the enclosure that held Bābak al-Khuzamī; there it was crucified, a pair of shackles on his legs and only trousers and a shirt upon him. His head was taken to Baghdad, displayed for several days on the eastern side and for several days on the western side, with guards posted day and night. In his ear was affixed a slip bearing the words:
“This is the head of the unbelieving, idolatrous, deviant Ahmad ibn Naṣr, killed at the hand of ‘Abd Allah Hārūn, the imam al-Wāthiq billāh, Commander of the Faithful, after he had established the proof against him regarding the creation of the Qur’an and the rejection of anthropomorphism, had offered him repentance, and had enabled him to return to the truth; but he would do nothing but persist in obstinacy and open defiance. Praise be to Allah who hastened him to His Fire and painful punishment for disbelief; thus the Commander of the Faithful deemed his blood and his curse lawful.”
The caliph then ordered that the leading figures among his followers be pursued. About twenty-seven men were seized, cast into prison, branded as “wrongdoers,” denied visitors, shackled in iron, and given none of the allowances ordinarily supplied to prisoners—an egregious injustice.
[This is a summary of what Ibn Jarīr—may Allah have mercy on him—recorded.](2)
This Ahmad ibn Naṣr—may Allah have mercy on him—was among the foremost practicing scholars, devoted to enjoining right and forbidding wrong. He heard hadith from Ḥammād ibn Zayd, Sufyān ibn ‘Uyaynah, and Hushaym ibn Bashīr, possessing all their compilations. He also heard choice reports from Imām Mālik ibn Anas, yet did not transmit much of what he had heard.
Ahmad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Dawraqī, his brother Ya‘qūb ibn Ibrāhīm, and Yaḥyā ibn Ma‘īn narrated from him. Yaḥyā once mentioned him, invoked mercy upon him, and said, “Allah sealed his life with martyrdom. He used to refrain from narrating, saying: ‘I am not qualified for that.’” Yaḥyā ibn Ma‘īn spoke of him with the highest praise.(3)
Imām Ahmad ibn Ḥanbal once mentioned him and said, “May Allah have mercy on him! How generous he was—he sacrificed his very life for Allah, Exalted is He.”(4)