Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā al-Anṭākī

Related to us: al-Ḥasan ibn Yazīd ibn Yaʿqūb al-Hamadhānī al-Daqqāq; he said: related to us: Abū al-ʿAbbās Muḥammad ibn ʿĪsā ibn Mūsā al-Bālisī; he said: related to us: Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā al-Anṭākī; he said: related to us: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sulaymān al-ʿAbdī al-Baghdādī, who said: Qatāda al-Baṣrī came to Kufa, and the people of Kufa visited him. Among those who visited was al-Nuʿmān ibn Thābit. It seems that he heard from him something concerning destiny, so he asked him about God’s saying, blessed and exalted: “I created jinn and humankind only to worship Me” [al-Dhāriyāt 56]. He said: “He created them to worship Him. He did not create them purposelessly or leave them neglected.” He asked: “Tell me about God’s saying, blessed and exalted: ‘By time! Humankind is indeed in loss’ [al-ʿAṣr 1–2]. How can someone created for loss be capable of worship?” He said: “A man of doctrinal passions is not to be answered.” He said: “Leave that aside; let me ask you a question of jurisprudence.” He said: “Ask.” He said: “Tell me about a man who swore an oath to commit a sin.” He said: “Its expiation is to abandon it.” He said: “Consider God’s saying, mighty and majestic: ‘Those among you who pronounce ẓihār against their wives: they are not their mothers. Their mothers are only those who bore them. They indeed utter an objectionable saying and a falsehood’ [al-Mujādila 2]. Is not the statement of one who pronounces ẓihār objectionable, false, or a sin on his part?” He said: “What do you want?” He said: “God has required the one who utters an objectionable saying and a falsehood to free a slave and the other things He mentioned.” Qatāda said: “A man of doctrinal passions is not to be answered.” He said: “Leave that aside; let me ask you about something concerning which people differ.” He said: “Ask.” He said: “Are you a believer?” He said: “I hope so.” He asked: “Why do you say, ‘I hope’?” He said: “Because of my Lord’s words reporting from Abraham: ‘The One whom I hope will forgive my sin on the Day of Judgment’ [al-Shuʿarāʾ 82].” Abū Ḥanīfa said: “Then why did you not say as God, mighty and majestic, reported from him when his Lord said to him: ‘Do you not believe?’ He said: ‘Yes’ [al-Baqara 260], and did not say, ‘I hope’?” He said: “A man of doctrinal passions is not to be answered.” He said: “Abū al-Khaṭṭāb, we awaken you from your sleep, and you become angry without giving me the answer. Peace, peace.”

Ẓihār is a husband’s prohibited comparison of his wife to a permanently unmarriageable female relative. The dialogue’s rhetorical questions and repeated refusals remain distinct.