ʿUthmān al-Battī

It is related that ʿUthmān al-Battī of Basra wrote to Abū Ḥanīfa: “People claim that you are a Murjiʾī.” Abū Ḥanīfa wrote back explaining the sound position: “We do not declare anyone an unbeliever because of a sin. We do not consider someone who sins and disobeys to be excused, even though his action occurs by God's decree.” When the letter reached ʿUthmān al-Battī, he stood on the pulpit and said: “People of Basra, the position is as Abū Ḥanīfa says. If you say that this position makes him a Murjiʾī, then I have been a Murjiʾī for seventy years.”