محمد بن علاثة

Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm al-Sarakhsī related to us. He said: My father related to us. He said: Bishr ibn Yaḥyā related to us, from Salm ibn Sālim, who said: I heard Khārija say: I visited Muḥammad ibn ʿUlātha when he was judge of Baghdad. He said: “Two men testified before me. I inquired about their religious outlook privately and publicly. They were praised and described as righteous, good and devout, so I intended to judge on their testimony. The person against whom I intended to rule said: You would judge on their testimony, though they claim that wine, gambling and sacrificial stones are Abū Bakr, ʿUmar and ʿUthmān! I asked them: Is that what you say? They answered: Yes. I asked: Why? They said: Because they were wrongdoers in assuming the caliphate. I therefore investigated their case and suspended acceptance of their testimony.” He said to me: “When you reach Kufa, ask about this for me.” When I reached Kufa, I asked Ibn Shubruma, who said: “I do not know.” I asked Sufyān, who said: “I do not know.” I asked Ibn Abī Laylā, who said: “This is one of the cloth merchant’s questions”—meaning Abū Ḥanīfa. So I asked Abū Ḥanīfa. He replied: “Ask those two about the wine, gambling, sacrificial stones and divining arrows in the Book of God, Blessed and Most High: Are they forbidden? If they say yes, their testimony is accepted, for their error lies in interpretation.”