he would never share a roof with him, except in a mosque. Ma‘qil said:

I performed Hajj and visited ‘Atā’ ibn Abī Rabāh with a group of my companions while he was reciting:

“Until, when the messengers despaired and thought that they had been lied to…”

I said, ‘We have a matter to discuss with you; please speak with us privately.’ He did so, and I told him that some people in our region had introduced new teachings, saying, ‘Prayer and zakat are not part of the religion.’

He replied, ‘Does Allah Most High not say:

“Yet they were commanded only to worship Allah, devoting their religion sincerely to Him, turning away from all false worship, to establish prayer and give zakat. That is the upright religion.”

‘Prayer and zakat are therefore part of the religion.’

I said, ‘They say that faith does not increase.’

He replied, ‘Has Allah not said in His revelation:

“So that they might increase in faith along with their existing faith”?

‘That is faith.’

I said, ‘They claim you as one of their own. I have heard that Ibn Dharr visited you with some companions and presented their views to you, and that you accepted them.’

When I mentioned this matter, he said, ‘No, by Allah, besides whom there is no deity!’ He repeated this twice or three times.

He then continued: I came to Medina and sat with Nāfi‘. I said, ‘Abū ‘Abd Allāh, I have a matter to discuss with you.’

He asked, ‘Privately or publicly?’

I replied, ‘No, privately.’

He said, ‘Many a private matter has no good in it.’

I replied, ‘It is not that sort of matter.’

When we had prayed ‘Asr, he rose, took hold of my garment, and went out through the small doorway without waiting for the preacher. He asked, ‘What is your concern?’

I said, ‘Have this man leave us alone.’

He told him, ‘Step aside.’

I then explained their views to him. He said: ‘The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace, said:

“I have been commanded to strike them with the sword until they say, ‘There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah.’ Once they say, ‘There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah,’ they safeguard their lives and property from me, except as required by its right, and their reckoning is with Allah.”’

I said, ‘They say: “We acknowledge that prayer is obligatory, yet we do not pray; that wine is forbidden, yet we drink it; and that marrying mothers is forbidden, yet we do so.”’

He shook his hand free of mine and said, ‘Whoever does this is a disbeliever.’