Abū ʿAbdillāh said, “They debated with me for three days.”

I asked, “Did anyone bring food in to you?”

He replied, “No.”

I said, “So did you eat anything at all?”

He answered, “I went two days without food, two days without drink, and for three days they kept debating me in his presence”—meaning the chief, Abū Isḥāq—“They mustered against me about fifty men from Basra and elsewhere”—that is, from among the disputants—“and among them was the blind Shāfiʿī1.

I asked him, “All of them would debate you at night?”

He said, “Yes, every night. Among them was the youth Ghassān”—that is, the judge of Kūfa—“and in truth the whole affair was in the hands of Ibn Abī Duʾād.”

I asked, “Were all of them speaking to you?”

He said, “Yes: one would speak from this side, another would marshal an argument from that side, another would force a Qur’anic verse into his interpretation. ʿAjīf was standing to my right and Isḥāq to my left, while we were before him”—meaning Abū Isḥāq.

“He questioned me repeatedly and I kept saying, ‘Produce your evidence from the Book or the Sunnah.’

“Then Isḥāq and ʿAjīf said, ‘So you will say nothing except what is in the Book or the Sunnah?’

“I told them, ‘Debate me in jurisprudence, or in knowledge.’

“ʿAjīf retorted, ‘You alone wish to defeat all these people!’ and he jabbed me with the pommel of his sword.” Abū ʿAbdillāh pointed to his neck, showing me with his hand like this.

“Then Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm said, ‘So you will only speak of what is in the Book or the Sunnah!’ and he prodded me with the pommel of his sword”—Abū ʿAbdillāh gestured toward his throat—.

I said, “So was …”