Biography of Ibn Khuzayma (Muhammad ibn Ishaq)

And the reciter of ar-Raqqa: Abou Marane Moussa ibn Jarir the grammarian.

And the hafiz Abou al-Abbas al-Walid ibn Aban al-Isbahani.

No. 214: Ibn Khuzayma, Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Khuzayma ibn Salih ibn Bakr as-Sulami.

The hafiz, the proof, the jurist, the sheikh of Islam, the imam of imams, Abou Bakr as-Sulami an-Nisabouri, the Shafiite, the author of works.

The birth and the teachers of Ibn Khuzayma

He was born in the year two hundred twenty-three.

In his youth he devoted himself to hadith and fiqh, until he became given as example for the breadth of knowledge and mastery.

He heard from: Ishaq ibn Rahawayhi and Muhammad ibn Houmayd, but he did not narrate from the two of them: for having written from them in his childhood, before his comprehension and discernment.

He heard from: Mahmoud ibn Ghaylan; 'Outba ibn Abdallah al-Marwazi; Ali ibn Houjr; Ahmad ibn Mani'; Bichr ibn Mu'adh; Abou Kourayb; Abd al-Jabbar ibn al-Ala'; Ahmad ibn Ibrahim ad-Dawraqi; his brother Ya'qoub; Ishaq ibn Chahine; Amr ibn Ali; Ziyad ibn Ayyoub; Muhammad ibn Mihran the camel-driver; Abou Sa'id al-Achajj; Youssouf ibn Wadih al-Hashimi; Muhammad ibn Bachchar; Muhammad ibn al-Mouthanna; al-Husayn ibn Hourayth; Muhammad ibn Abd al-A'la as-San'ani; Muhammad ibn Yahya; Ahmad ibn Abda ad-Dabbi; Nasr ibn Ali.

And from Muhammad ibn Ali; Muhammad ibn Abdallah al-Moukharrimi; Younous ibn Abd al-A'la; Ahmad ibn Abd ar-Rahman al-Wahbi; Youssouf ibn Moussa; Muhammad ibn Rafi'; Muhammad ibn Yahya al-Qouta'i; Salm ibn Dounada; Yahya ibn Hakim; Isma'il ibn Bichr ibn Mansour as-Sulaymi; al-Hasan ibn Muhammad az-Za'farani; Haroun ibn Ishaq al-Hamdani; and many other peoples.

And among them: Ishaq ibn Moussa al-Khatmi, and Muhammad ibn Aban al-Balkhi.

The narrators of Ibn Khuzayma

Those who narrated from him: al-Boukhari; Muslim, outside the "Two Sahihs"; Muhammad ibn Abdallah ibn Abd al-Hakam, one of his masters; Ahmad ibn al-Moubarak al-Moustamli; Ibrahim ibn Abi Talib; Abou Hamid ibn ach-Charqi; Abou al-Abbas ad-Daghouni; Abou Ali al-Husayn ibn Muhammad an-Nisabouri; Abou Hatim al-Bousti; Abou Ahmad ibn Adi; Abou Amr ibn Hamdan; Ishaq ibn Sa'd an-Nasawi; Abou Hamid Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Balawayh; Abou Bakr Ahmad ibn Mihran the reciter; his grandson Muhammad ibn al-Fadl ibn Muhammad ibn Khuzayma; Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Ali ibn Nousseyr the corrector; Abou Bakr ibn Ishaq as-Sibghi; Abou Sahl as-Sou'louki; al-Husayn ibn Ali at-Tamimi Housaynak; Bichr ibn Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Yassine; Abou Muhammad Abdallah ibn Ahmad ibn Ja'far ach-Chaybani; Abou al-Husayn Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Bahiri; al-Khalil ibn Ahmad as-Sijzi the judge; Abou Sa'id Muhammad ibn Bichr al-Karabissi; Abou Ahmad Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Karabissi al-Hakim; Abou Nasr Ahmad ibn al-Husayn al-Marwani; Abou al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad as-Soundouqi; Abou al-Hasan Muhammad ibn al-Husayn al-Abri; Abou al-Wafa' Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hammouya al-Mouzakki; and a multitude.

Abou al-Fadl Ahmad ibn Hibbatallah informed us, in what I read before him, in the year six hundred ninety-six: Abd al-Mou'izz ibn Muhammad al-Harawi informed us: Tamim ibn Abi Sa'id al-Qassar informed us: Muhammad ibn Abd ar-Rahman informed us, in the year four hundred forty-nine: Muhammad ibn Muhammad an-Nisabouri the hafiz informed us: Abou Bakr Muhammad ibn Ishaq informed us: Ali ibn Houjr related to us: Abd al-Aziz ibn Houssayn related to us, from Abou Omayya, that Habib informed him, from Zirr ibn Houbaych:

That he came to Safwan ibn Assal, who was of the Companions, and said to him: what brought you? They said: we came out of our homes seeking knowledge. He said: whoever goes out of his house seeking knowledge, the angels lower their wings for the seeker of knowledge.

He asked him about the wiping upon the boots. He said: the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, was asked, and he established for the traveller three days and their nights, and for the resident a day and a night. I do not say in case of seminal emission, but in case of stool, or urine, or sleep.

Muhammad ibn Muhammad the hafiz said: "Rare, from the hadith of Habib ibn Abi Thabit: I know not anyone who narrated it except Abou Omayya Abd al-Karim ibn Abi al-Moukhariq, and the name of his father is Qays."

Ahmad ibn Hibbatallah ibn Ahmad informed us, from Abd al-Mou'izz ibn Muhammad: Zahir ibn Tahir informed us: Abou Sa'd al-Kandjaroudhi informed us: Bichr ibn Muhammad al-Hakim informed us: Ibn Khuzayma informed us: Ahmad ibn Nasr the reciter informed us: Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Basri, Mahboub, related to us: Khalid ad-Hadhdha' related to us, from Abou Qilaba, from Amr ibn Salima, who said:

"The caravans would come to us from the envoy of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. I would take from them a verse or two verses. They would inform us that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said: your imam is the one of you who recites the most Quran. And I was the imam of my people while I was of small age."

Likewise to Ibn Khuzayma: Abou Hassine ibn Ahmad ibn Younous related to us: Abthar ibn al-Qasim related to us: Houssayn related to us, from ach-Cha'bi, from Muhammad ibn Sayfiyyine, who said:

The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said on the day of Achoura: "Is there among you who has eaten today?" They said: among us are those who fasted, and among us one who did not fast. He said: "Complete then the rest of your day, and send to the people of the camp: let them complete the rest of their day."

This hadith is authentic, rare. An-Nasa'i extracted it, from Abou Hassine: we concorded with him.

Al-Hakim said in his "Chronicle": Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Wasil al-Jou'fi informed me at Bikand: my father related to me: Muhammad ibn Isma'il related to us: Muhammad related to me: Ahmad ibn Sinan related to me: Mahdi, the father of Abd ar-Rahman ibn Mahdi, related to me, who said:

"Abd ar-Rahman would be with Soufyan ten days or more, not coming to the house. When he came to us an hour, the messenger of Soufyan came, and he would leave and leave us."

Al-Hakim said: "Muhammad: he is Ibn Ishaq ibn Khuzayma without doubt: Abou Ahmad ad-Darimi related to us: Ibn Khuzayma related to us, by way of citation."

Al-Hakim said: "I read in the handwriting of Mouslim: Muhammad ibn Ishaq, our companion, related to us: Zakariyya ibn Yahya ibn Aban related to us: Abdallah ibn Youssouf related to us: Isma'il ibn Rabi'a related to us a hadith on the prayer for rain."

Al-Hakim said: "Ahmad ibn Abd ar-Rahman ibn al-Qasim wrote to me from Egypt that Muhammad ibn ar-Rabi' al-Djizi informed them: Muhammad ibn Abdallah ibn Abd al-Hakam informed me: Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Khuzayma informed me: Moussa ibn Khaqan related to us: Ishaq al-Azraq related to us, from Soufyan, from al-A'mach, from Mouslim al-Batine, from Sa'id, from Ibn Abbas, who said: when they brought out their prophet, Abou Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, said: I know there will be fighting."

Abou Outhman Sa'id ibn Isma'il al-Hiri said: "Ibn Khuzayma related to us, and said: when I wished to compose something, I would enter into prayer, consulting Allah, until it was opened to me: then I would begin the composition."

Then Abou Outhman said: "Allah indeed wards off tribulation from the people of this city, for the place of Abou Bakr Muhammad ibn Ishaq."

Al-Hakim: "Abou Bakr Muhammad ibn Ja'far informed us: I heard Ibn Khuzayma, and he was asked: from where was knowledge given you? He said: the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said: the water of Zamzam is for what it is drunk for. And when I drank, I asked Allah for useful knowledge."

Al-Hakim: "I heard Abou Bakr ibn Balawayh: I heard Abou Bakr ibn Ishaq, and it was said to him: what if you shaved your hair in the bath? He said: it is not established with me that the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, ever entered a bath, nor shaved his hair: a slave girl of mine takes my hair with the shears."

Al-Hakim said: "And I questioned Muhammad ibn al-Fadl ibn Muhammad about his grandfather."

He mentioned that he stored nothing despite his effort, but spent it on the people of knowledge, and that he did not know the steelyard, and did not distinguish between ten and twenty: at times we would take from him the ten, and he would imagine it was five.

Al-Hakim: "I heard Abou Bakr al-Qaffal say: Ibn Sa'id wrote to Ibn Khuzayma seeking his authorization of the book of striving, and he granted it to him."

Muhammad ibn Sahl at-Tousi said: "I heard ar-Rabi' ibn Sulayman, and he said to us: do you know Ibn Khuzayma? We said: yes. He said: we profited from him more than he profited from us."

Muhammad ibn Isma'il as-Soukkari said: "I heard Ibn Khuzayma say: I attended the circle of al-Mouzani. He was asked about the quasi-intentional, and the questioner said to him: Allah described in His book killing as two kinds: intentional and accidental. Why then have you said it is of three categories, and do you argue by Ali ibn Zayd ibn Jou'dane?"

"Al-Mouzani fell silent. I said to his opponent: Ayyoub and Khalid ad-Hadhdha' also related the hadith. He said to me: and who is 'Ouqba ibn Aws? I said: a Basran sheikh, from whom Ibn Sirine narrated, despite his grandeur. He said to al-Mouzani: is it you who argues, or this one? He said: when the hadith comes, it is he who argues: for he knows it better than I; then I shall speak myself."

Muhammad ibn al-Fadl ibn Muhammad said: "I heard my grandfather say: I asked my father leave to go out to Qoutayba. He said: read the Quran first, until I permit you. I memorized it entirely. He said to me: stay until you pray with the completion. I did so. When they gave us the festival, he permitted me, and I went out to Merv. I heard at Merv the Roudh from Muhammad ibn Hicham, companion of Houchaym: then Qoutayba was announced to us as dead."

The hafiz Abou Ali an-Nisabouri said: "I have seen no one like Ibn Khuzayma."

I say: he says this though he saw an-Nasa'i.

Abou Ahmad Housaynak said: "I heard the imam of imams Abou Bakr relate, from Ali ibn Khachram, from Ibn Rahawayhi, that he said: I memorize seventy thousand hadiths."

I said to Ibn Khuzayma: "How much does the sheikh memorize?" He struck me upon my head and said: "How abundant your curiosity is!" Then he said: "O my son, I never wrote black ink upon white but I knew it."

The hafiz Abou Ali said: "Ibn Khuzayma memorized the legal judgments of his hadiths as the reader memorizes a surah."

Abou Ali al-Hasan ibn Ali informed us: Abdallah ibn Umar informed us: Abou al-Waqt informed us: the sheikh of Islam Abou Isma'il al-Ansari informed us: Abd ar-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Salih related to us: my father related to us: Abou Hatim ibn Hibban at-Tamimi related to us, and said:

"I have not seen on the face of the earth who memorizes the craft of the Sunans, and memorizes their sound words and their additions, until it is as if the Sunans altogether were between his two eyes, except Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Khuzayma, strictly."

Abou al-Hasan ad-Daruqutni said: "Ibn Khuzayma was an imam, reliable, without peer."

Abou Bichr al-Qattan related, saying: "A neighbour of Ibn Khuzayma, of the people of knowledge, saw in sleep as if a table upon which was the image of our Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, and Ibn Khuzayma polishing it. The interpreter said: this is a man who revives the Sunna of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him."

The imam Abou al-Abbas ibn Sourayj said, when Ibn Khuzayma was mentioned to him: "He extracts the fine pearls from the hadith of the Messenger of Allah with the engraving tool."

This imam was penetrating, perceptive of the narrators. He said, in what Abou Bakr Muhammad ibn Ja'far, the master of al-Hakim, related from him: "I have no need, for proof, of Chahr ibn Houchab, nor of Hariz ibn Uthman for his madhhab, nor of Abdallah ibn Umar, nor of Bouqayya, nor of Mouqatil ibn Hayyan, nor of Ach'ath ibn Sawwar, nor of Ali ibn Jou'dane for his poor memory, nor of Asim ibn Ubaydallah, nor of Ibn Aqil, nor of Yazid ibn Abi Ziyad, nor of Moujalid, nor of Hajjaj ibn Artat when he says: from, nor of Abou Houdayfa an-Nahdi, nor of Ja'far ibn Bourqan, nor of Abou Ma'char Najih, nor of Umar ibn Abi Salama, nor of Qabous ibn Abi Dhabyan."

Then he named people below these in uprightness: for others than one argued with the mentioned ones.

Abou Zakariyya Yahya ibn Muhammad al-Anbari said: "I heard Ibn Khuzayma say: no one has a saying with the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, when the report is sound."

Al-Hakim said: "I heard Muhammad ibn Salih ibn Hani': I heard Ibn Khuzayma say: whoever does not acknowledge that Allah established Himself upon His throne above His seven heavens is an unbeliever whose blood is lawful, and his wealth is spoils."

I say: whoever acknowledges that, confirming the Book of Allah and the hadiths of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, and believes in it, remitting its meaning to Allah and His messenger, not venturing into interpretation nor digging deep: he is the following Muslim. And whoever denies that did not know its establishment in the Book and the Sunna: he falls short, and Allah pardons him, Allah not having imposed upon every Muslim the memorizing of what came in that. And whoever denies that after knowledge, and stops otherwise than upon the way of the righteous forebears, and stubbornly persists against the text: his affair is to Allah. We seek refuge in Allah from error and passion.

And this speech of Ibn Khuzayma, though true, is abrupt: the souls of many of the later scholars do not bear it.

Abou al-Walid Hassane ibn Muhammad the jurist said: "I heard Ibn Khuzayma say: the Quran is the word of Allah, the Most High. And whoever says it is created is an unbeliever: repentance is sought of him; if he repents, otherwise he is killed, and he is not buried in the cemeteries of the Muslims."

Ibn Khuzayma had a grandeur in souls and a majesty in hearts, for his knowledge, his religion, and his following of the Sunna.

The works of Ibn Khuzayma

And his book on the "Unity" is a great volume, and he interpreted therein the hadith of the image.

Let him then be excused who interpreted some of the attributes; as for the early generations, they did not venture into interpretation: they believed and restrained, and remitted the knowledge of that to Allah and His messenger. And were everyone who erred in his ijtihad, with the soundness of his faith and his seeking to follow the truth, exiled by us and taxed with innovation, few of the imams with us would be safe: may Allah have mercy on them all, by His grace and generosity.

Al-Hakim said: "The virtues of the imam of imams Ibn Khuzayma are with me gathered in many folios, and his works exceed one hundred forty books, besides the questions; and the composed questions are more than a hundred fascicules."

He said: "He has the fiqh of the hadith of Barira in three fascicules."

Hamd ibn Abdallah the corrector said: "I heard Abdallah ibn Khalid al-Isbahani say: Abd ar-Rahman ibn Abi Hatim was asked about Abou Bakr ibn Khuzayma, and said: woe to you! It is he who is asked about us, not we about him! He is an imam taken as model."

The imam Abou Bakr Muhammad ibn Ali ach-Chachi said: "I attended Ibn Khuzayma. Abou Bakr an-Naqqach, the reciter, said to him: it has reached me that when it occurred between al-Mouzani and Ibn Abd al-Hakam, it was said to al-Mouzani: he refutes ash-Chafi'i. Al-Mouzani said: he can only do so by Muhammad ibn Ishaq an-Nisabouri. Abou Bakr said: so it was."

And from Abou Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn al-Moudharib, who said: "I saw Ibn Khuzayma in sleep, and I said: may Allah reward you well on behalf of Islam. He said: so said Jibril to me in the heaven."

Al-Hakim said: "Muhammad ibn Hammoudh and a group of our masters related to me, except that Ibn Hammoudh was of the most informed of them of this event, and said: when Abou Bakr ibn Khuzayma reached of age, of precedence, and of singularity with them what he reached, he had companions who became in his life the stars of the world: like Abou Ali Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab ath-Thaqafi, who was the first to carry the elevated sciences of ash-Chafi'i and the subtleties of Ibn Sourayj to Khurasan; and like Abou Bakr Ahmad ibn Ishaq, meaning as-Sibghi, the successor of Ibn Khuzayma in fatwas, the finest of the assembly in composition, and the most politically wise of them in the sessions of sultans; and Abou Bakr ibn Abi Uthman, who was their man of letters, and the most abundant of them in collecting sciences, and the most travelling, and the sheikh of the volunteers and the strivers; and Abou Muhammad Yahya ibn Mansour, who was among the greatest of the houses, the most knowing of them of the madhhab of Ibn Khuzayma, and the fittest of them for the judiciary."

He said: "When Mansour ibn Yahya at-Tousi arrived in Nishapur, who diverged much to Ibn Khuzayma for audition from him, and he was a Mou'tazilite, and he witnessed what he witnessed of the four whom we named, he envied them, and gathered with Abou Abd ar-Rahman the fatalist preacher at the gate of Ma'mar, in their affairs, more than once. They said: this is an imam who does not hasten in speech, and forbids his companions from disputing in dialectic and its teaching; and there have arisen for him companions who contradict him while he knows not: for they are upon the doctrine of the Kullabites. Their hope strengthened in sowing enmity between these imams."

The death of Ibn Khuzayma

Al-Hakim said: "I heard the imam Abou Bakr Ahmad ibn Ishaq say: it was of the decree of Allah, the Most High, that when the judge Abou Sa'id died, Ibn Khuzayma manifested the malicious joy at his death, he and a group of his companions, out of ignorance on their part. They asked him to hold a hospitality, and Ibn Khuzayma had pure peasant tenants."

He said: "I was therefore compelled, from among the group, to go out to it altogether."

Abou Ahmad al-Husayn ibn Ali at-Tamimi related to me: "The hospitality was in Joumada al-Oula of the year three hundred thirty-nine, and none like it had been seen: Ibn Khuzayma made it, bringing a group of sheep and she-camels, equivalents of drink, beds, utensils, cooks. Then he advanced to the assembly of the traditionists, of elders and young men. They gathered at Kandjaroudh and rode from it, Abou Bakr preceding them, cutting through the markets one by one, asking them to answer him, and saying to them: I have asked whoever returns to noble virtue and love of me to attend our assembly today."

"They came company after company until no greater one remained in the land, meaning Nishapur. And the cooks cooked, and a group of bakers baked, until there was also loaded all they found in the land of bread and roast upon the camels, the mules, and the donkeys. And the imam, may Allah have mercy on him, standing, managed the affairs of the hospitality in the finest manner there could be, until whoever attended testified he had never witnessed its like."

Abou Bakr Ahmad ibn Yahya the theologian related to me, saying: "When we returned from the hospitality, we gathered at some of the people of knowledge, and came the mention of the word of Allah: is it ancient, never ceasing, or do we establish, according to His informing, the Most High, that He speaks by it?"

"A discussion fell among us in that. A group of us said: the word of the Creator is ancient, never ceasing. And a group said: His word is ancient, only it does not stand except by His informing and by His word."

"I came in the morning to Abou Ali ath-Thaqafi and informed him of what ran. He said: whoever denies that it never ceased to be believes it is originated."

"This question spread in the land, and Mansour at-Tousi went in a group to Ibn Khuzayma, and informed him of that, until Mansour said: had I not said to the sheikh: these believe the doctrine of the Kullabites? And this is their doctrine."

He said: "Ibn Khuzayma gathered his companions and said: did I not forbid you more than once from venturing into dialectic? And this day added them to that no more."

Al-Hakim said: "Abdallah ibn Ishaq al-Anmati the theologian related to me, saying: at-Tousi never ceased being with Abou Bakr ibn Khuzayma until he emboldened him against his companions. Now Abou Bakr ibn Ishaq and Abou Bakr ibn Abi Uthman would refute to Abou Bakr what he dictated, and attend the session of Abou Ali ath-Thaqafi, reading that before the assembly, until the enmity strengthened."

I heard Abou Sa'id Abd ar-Rahman ibn Ahmad the reciter: I heard Ibn Khuzayma say:

"The Quran is the word of Allah, His revelation and His sending down: uncreated. And whoever says something of it is created, or says the Quran is originated, he is a Jahmite. And whoever looks into my books, it appears to him that the Kullabites, may Allah curse them, are liars in what they relate from me against my foundation and my religion. The people of East and West have known that no one composed in unity, destiny, and the principles of knowledge like my composition. It has been established with me that these, ath-Thaqafi, as-Sibghi, and Yahya ibn Mansour, are liars: they lied against me in my lifetime. It is therefore forbidden to every kindler of knowledge to accept from them anything they relate from me. And Ibn Abi Uthman is the most lying of them in my eyes, and their strongest statement upon me what I did not say."

I say: these are not liars: rather they are establishing imams. The sheikh spoke according to what was transmitted to him from them. May Allah disfigure whoever transmits slander, and whoever walks with tale-bearing.

Al-Hakim said: "And I heard Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Balawayh: I heard Ibn Khuzayma say:

Some of these ignorances claim: Allah does not repeat speech. They understand not the Book of Allah. Allah has informed in places that He created Adam, and repeated the mention of Moussa, and praised Himself in places, and repeated: 'Which of the favours of your Lord do you deny?' Surah ar-Rahman. And I did not imagine that a Muslim imagines that Allah does not speak a thing twice. And this is the word of him who claims the word of Allah is created, and imagines it is not permitted that He say: Allah created a thing, twice."

Al-Hakim said: "I heard Abou Bakr Ahmad ibn Ishaq say:

When there befell of our affair what befell, Abou Abd ar-Rahman and Mansour at-Tousi found the opportunity of expounding their doctrine, and Abou al-Qasim, Abou Bakr ibn Ali, and al-Baradhi'i seized the opportunity of corrupting the situation. Abou Amr al-Hiri stood for mediation between the assembly, and established for Abou Bakr ibn Khuzayma our acknowledging to him of precedence, and made clear to him the aim of the dissenters in corrupting the situation, until he agreed with him that we gather at his. I entered, and Abou Ali, and Abou Bakr ibn Abi Uthman. Abou Ali ath-Thaqafi said to him: what have you disapproved, O master, of our doctrines, until we return from it?"

"He said: your inclination to the doctrine of the Kullabites. Ahmad ibn Hanbal was of the harshest of people against Abdallah ibn Sa'id ibn Kullab, and against his companions like al-Harith and others, until the correspondence grew long between him and Abou Ali in this chapter."

"I said: I myself gathered the foundations of our doctrines in a notebook. I brought out the notebook to him: he took it, and he kept considering it and looking into it, then said: I do not see here anything I do not say."

"I asked him to write upon it his hand that that is his madhhab. He wrote the end of those letters."

"I said to Abou Amr al-Hiri: keep this writing yourself until the speech is cut off, and none of us is accused of addition in it."

"Then we separated, and nothing was swifter than that so-and-so and so-and-so sought him, and said: the master did not examine what he wrote in that writing: they betrayed you, and they changed the figure of the situation."

"He believed them, and sent to Abou Amr al-Hiri to retrieve his writing from him. Abou Amr refused him, and did not return it until Ibn Khuzayma died. And he bequeathed that it be buried with me: I shall dispute by it before Allah, the Most High, in it, and it is the Quran: the word of Allah, the Most High, and an attribute of His substance: nothing of His word is created, nor made, nor originated. And whoever claims something of it is created or originated, or claims the word is of the attribute of deed, he is a Jahmite, astray, innovator. And I say: Allah never ceased speaking, and the word is for Him an attribute of substance. And whoever claims Allah spoke only once, and spoke only what He spoke by, then His word ended: he disbelieved in Allah. And that He descends, the Most High, to the heaven of the world, and says: 'Is there a caller, that I answer him?'"

"And whoever claims that His knowledge descends His commands, he is astray. And He speaks to His slaves without how: 'The Merciful established Himself upon the Throne' (Surah Taha, verse 5), not as the Jahmites said: He contains the dominion, and does not dominate."

"And Allah addresses His slaves again and anew, and repeats to them His stories, His command and His prohibition. And whoever claims other than that is astray, an innovator."

"And he related the rest of the creed."

I say: this Abou Bakr as-Sibghi was the scholar of his time, and the great of the Shafiites of Nishapur: al-Hakim carried from him much knowledge.

Ibn Khuzayma has a long notice in the "Chronicle of Nishapur", which would be twenty-five folios, of that his testament, and two poems with which he was mourned.

And the fixing of his death: on the second of Dhou al-Qi'da, of the year three hundred eleven. He lived eighty-nine years.

And we heard "The abridgement of the abridged" of him, elevated, with a lacuna for me.

And in it died: Abou Ja'far ibn Hamdan al-Hiri, author of the "Sahih"; Abou Ja'far Ahmad ibn Amr al-Ilbiri, hafiz of the people of Andalus; the sheikh of the Hanbalites Abou Bakr al-Khallal; the sheikh of the Sufis of Iraq Abou Muhammad Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Jariri, it is said his name is Hasan; the sheikh of the Arabic language Abou Ishaq Ibrahim ibn as-Sari az-Zajjaj the Baghdadian; the doyen of the viziers Hamid ibn al-Abbas; Hammåd ibn Chakir an-Nasafi, companion of al-Boukhari; the master of chains of Baghdad Abou Muhammad Abdallah ibn Ishaq al-Madaini al-Anmati; the hafiz of Herat Abou Muhammad Abdallah ibn Ourwa; the hafiz of Merv Abdallah ibn Mahmoud; the traditionist of Antioch Abou Tahir ibn Fil al-Hamdani; the sheikh of medicine Muhammad ibn Zakariyya ar-Razi the philosopher; and the master of chains of Nishapur Abou al-Abbas Muhammad ibn Chadal ibn Ali, client of Banou Hashim.

Ahmad ibn Hibbatallah informed us, from Abd al-Mou'izz ibn Muhammad: Zahir al-Moustamli informed us: Abou Sa'id Ahmad ibn Ibrahim the reciter informed us: Muhammad ibn al-Fadl ibn Muhammad ibn Khuzayma informed us: my grandfather informed us: Abou Moussa related to us: Abd al-A'la related to us: Sa'id related to us, from Qatada, from Anas, who said:

The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said: "Whoever forgets a prayer, or sleeps through it, its expiation is to pray it when he remembers it."