1398 — Abd al-Rahman ibn Ubayd Allah informed us: Ahmad ibn Sulayman related to us; he said: Jafar ibn Muhammad and Muhammad ibn Ismail related to us. They said: Safwan ibn Salih related to us; he said: Muhammad ibn Shuayb related to us; he said: I heard al-Awzai say:

“The first to speak about divine decree was a man from the people of Iraq called Sawsan. He was a Christian, then embraced Islam, then became a Christian again. Mabad al-Juhani took this doctrine from him, and Ghaylan took it from Mabad.”