was still insisting on declaring others misguided and on refusing to cooperate unless they submitted to his opinion. They therefore unanimously decided to remove him, but only after discussing the matter with him as well. So they went to him at his home—after first seeking his permission, of course—and I went with them, along with my two companions. They asked him to abandon his insistence, to leave the other man to his own view, and to continue cooperating with them. But he refused.

After a heated discussion between him, his opponent in the matter, and some of his other brothers, he lost his composure to the point that, when his opponent reminded him of Allah, he said: “I do not want you to remind me of Allah!” There were other matters besides which there is no room to mention now. In light of what they heard of his persistence and what they saw of his poor conduct toward his guests, they agreed to remove him and appointed someone else as their leader.

Then the days passed, and reports about him continued to reach me: that he was maligning his opponent and attributing to him things of which he was innocent. When I became certain of his persistence in his opinion and his fabrications against him—despite having known his integrity and sincerity for nearly thirty years—I announced that I would shun him until he returned to his senses. Whenever he met me and greeted me warmly, I would turn away from him. He would complain to people about my avoiding him, while disregarding what he himself had done; most people did not know about it. At the same time, he would outwardly praise and commend me, claiming that I was his teacher!

Then, in the middle of Jumada al-Awwal 1396 AH, I was surprised to find him at the home of one of the Salafis in Amman, where we had been invited for lunch. He hurried to receive me, as was his habit, but I turned away from him, as was mine. At the table, he tried to draw me into conversation by asking me about some scholarly figures whom I had met during my trip to Morocco, from which I had only recently returned. I said to him, “There can be no conversation between you and me until you resolve your problem!” He said, “What problem?” I replied, “You know it better than I do.” He was unable to finish his food.

I then related his story to the brothers present: his fanaticism for his opinion and his wrongdoing toward his brother who disagreed with him. I proposed that a private session be held so that they could hear from both parties. And that was after