and declared both groups to be innovators. Even regarding the term “compulsion,” they objected both to those who said, “Allah compelled,” and to those who said, “Allah did not compel.” Reports to this effect are well known from al-Awzā‘ī, Sufyān al-Thawrī, ‘Abd al-Rahmān ibn Mahdī, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, and other early authorities and imams of this community. Abū Bakr al-Khallāl recorded some of these in his Book of the Sunnah, as did others who compiled the statements of the early generations.
Al-Awzā‘ī, al-Zubaydī, and others said that the word jabara (to compel) does not occur in the Quran or Sunnah; rather, the word found in the Sunnah is jabala (to endow with an innate disposition). This occurs in the authentic report in which the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, addressed al-Ashajj of ‘Abd al-Qays when the delegation of ‘Abd al-Qays came to him from Bahrain. They said:
“O Messenger of Allah, between us and you stands this tribe of the unbelievers of Mudar, and we can reach you only during a sacred month. Give us a clear, decisive instruction that we may act upon and enjoin upon those we have left behind.”
He said:
“I command you to believe in Allah. Do you know what faith is? To testify that none has the right to be worshipped except Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, to establish prayer, to give zakat, and to pay one-fifth of whatever spoils you acquire.”
He also forbade them to prepare infused drinks in vessels in which the drink quickly becomes intoxicating. A man might even drink without realizing that he had drunk an intoxicant. This is unlike containers whose mouths are tied shut, which split open when the drink becomes strong. He prohibited al-dubbā’, meaning gourds; al-hantam, meaning earthenware vessels such as jars; al-muzaffat, meaning pitch-coated vessels; and al-naqīr, meaning hollowed-out wood.
It has been said, however, that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, subsequently permitted this after having prohibited it. Hence scholars differed over whether this prohibition was abrogated, holding two views