and ʿAlī al-Aḥwal and another man—an elderly shaykh—were brought in. Abū Yūsuf looked at the shaykh and said, “Had I not noticed in you a trace of decorum, I would have given you a painful beating.” He then ordered him to be jailed, while al-Aḥwal was flogged and paraded through the streets.
139 – The compiler cites this report through Ibn Abī Ḥātim: “Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ibn Mihrān narrated to us; Bishār ibn Mūsā al-Khiffāf narrated to us.”
I say: Bishār is weak and commits many errors.
159 – ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan al-Karāʿī related that Abū Yūsuf said: “I debated Abū Ḥanīfah for six months, and we both agreed that whoever claims, ‘The Qur’an is created,’ is a disbeliever.”
140 – The author records it through the route of the ḥāfiẓ Ibn Abī Ḥātim: “Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Muslim narrated to us; ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan al-Karāʿī narrated to us.”
I say: This isnād is sound. As for ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan, he appears to be ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan al-Bazzāz al-Tamīmī al-Rāzī—known as Karāʿ—who transmitted from Mālik ibn Anas, Ḥammād ibn Zayd, and their peers. Abū Ḥātim and Abū Zurʿah narrated from him and said, “There was nothing wrong with him,” as stated in al-Jarḥ wa-l-Taʿdīl (3/1/180).
As for Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad, he seems to be Aḥmad ibn Yazīd ibn Muslim al-Anṣārī al-Aṭrābulusī, known as Ibn Abī al-Ḥanājir. Ibn Abī Ḥātim said (1/1/73): “We wrote from him, and he is trustworthy.”
I have also found another chain leading back to Abū Yūsuf. Al-Bayhaqī produced it in al-Asmāʾ (p. 251) from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Dashtakī, who said: “I heard my father say, ‘I heard the judge Abū Yūsuf say…’” and he mentioned the same statement. He added, “Abū ʿAbd Allāh—meaning al-Ḥākim—said: All of its transmitters are reliable.”
He also transmitted, through the route of Muḥammad ibn Sābiq, who said: “I asked Abū Yūsuf, ‘Did Abū Ḥanīfah ever say that the Qur’an is created?’ He replied, ‘God forbid! Nor do I say it myself.’”
Al-Khaṭīb recorded the wording of the book as well in his History (13/377) through the chain of Muḥammad ibn Shujāʿ