209 – He is Aḥmad ibn Abī Dāwūd––the pattern of his given name is like Fu’ād––the well-known Jahmī chief judge. It was through his machinations that Imām Aḥmad and the people of the Sunnah were tried, beaten, and humiliated for refusing to say that the Qur’an was created. Thereafter Ibn Abī Dāwūd was himself stricken, in both body and wealth, as detailed in his biography in al-Shadharāt 2/93 and elsewhere. May Allah requite him as he deserves. He died in 240 AH.

210 – I say: Its chain is ḥasan; its narrators are trustworthy except for Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Qurashī. Al-Dhahabī said, “Al-Barqānī declared him weak, while others judged him reliable.” He has an entry in Tarīkh Baghdād 5/94–96. The compiler recorded this report through the route of al-Khaṭīb, who set it out in his Tarīkh 5/283 with the chain cited in the original from Ibn al-Naḍr; the latter’s biography appears in Tarīkh 1/364. Al-Lālakāʾī also transmitted it, 1/92/1, via this path, and al-Bayhaqī included it in al-Asmāʾ, p. 415, through Ṣāliḥ ibn Muḥammad from Ibn al-Aʿrābī with similar wording. The chain is sound; this Ṣāliḥ is Abū ʿAlī, nicknamed “Jazrah,” a trustworthy ḥāfiẓ who died in 294 AH.

241 – Nafṭawayh narrated: Dāwūd ibn ʿAlī told us, “We were with Ibn al-Aʿrābī when a man came and said, ‘Abū ʿAbd Allah, what is the meaning of the Almighty’s words, “The Most Merciful istawā (rose) over the Throne”?’ He replied, ‘He is above His Throne exactly as He has informed.’ The man objected, ‘Not so; rather it means istawlà (took possession).’ Ibn al-Aʿrābī said, ‘Be quiet! What do you know of this? The Arabs never say that a man istawlà something unless there is another opposing him over it; whichever of the two prevails is said to have istawlà. Allah, exalted be He, has no opponent. He is above His Throne just as He has informed.’ He then added, ‘Taking possession comes only after contest.’ Al-Nābighah said:

None but one like you—or one you outstrip—
Races ahead like the steed when it conquers the course.

Ibn al-Aʿrābī (may Allah have mercy on him) died in 231 AH.