And al-Bukhārī, Muslim, Abū Zur‘a, and al-Dāraqutnī said: “His narrations are abandoned.” Al-Jūzajānī said: “He was found to be lying.” Abū Hātim said: “A liar.” Ibn Hibbān said: “He fabricates reports and attributes them to trustworthy narrators.”

The identity of Tāriq ibn ‘Abd al-‘Azīz, from whom al-Thawrī is said to have narrated, is unknown. He said: “For the known Tāriq ibn ‘Abd al-‘Azīz, from whom Ibn ‘Ajlān narrated, does not belong to this generation of narrators.”

A different version of this account was also transmitted. Abū Nu‘aym narrated it from al-Tabarānī: “Ahmad ibn Zayd ibn al-Jarīsh narrated to us; Abū Hātim al-Sijistānī narrated to us; al-Asma‘ī narrated to us, saying: ‘Abd al-Rahmān ibn Abī al-Zinād narrated to us, from his father, who said:

“Mus‘ab, ‘Urwa, and ‘Abd Allāh, the sons of al-Zubayr, gathered in the Hijr enclosure with ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Umar. They said: ‘Express your wishes.’

“‘Abd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr said: ‘As for me, I wish for the caliphate.’ ‘Urwa said: ‘As for me, I wish that knowledge be transmitted from me.’ Mus‘ab said: ‘As for me, I wish to govern Iraq and to be married to both ‘Ā’isha bint Talha and Sukayna bint al-Husayn.’ ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Umar said: ‘As for me, I wish for forgiveness.’

“He said: ‘They all attained what they wished for, and perhaps Ibn ‘Umar has been forgiven.’”

I say: The scholars agree that this chain of transmission is better than the former one, and it contains no petition invoking created beings.

On this subject, there are also accounts of people who saw a dream in which they were told: “Supplicate with such-and-such words.” The scholars agree that something of this kind cannot serve as evidence. Some compilers of supplications have included these accounts. A report concerning this has also been transmitted from one of the early generations, such as the one narrated by