These Four Are Created

Some accounts relate to this. ʿĪsā ibn Dīnār was actually imprisoned for 20 years for not adopting the opinion of the Muʿtazilah.

Al-Shaʿbī, the great muḥaddith^*****, was once asked about this, because they would actually come and interrogate people. In order to get away, he said: ammā al-Tawrātu wa-l-Injīlu wa-l-Zabūru wa-l-Furqān, fa-hādhihi al-arbaʿatu ḥādithah. So when he was asked, he said: as for the Torah, the Injīl, the Zabūr, and the Qur'an, the Furqān, these four are created. They're not eternal; they're created. What he meant by that was his fingers: he pointed towards his fingers, these four, and they are created. So this was a ploy he played, in order to get away, and at the same time not say something absolutely wrong. Some say that this happened to Imam al-Shāfiʿī, and that this is what he said.

Imam Aḥmad was imprisoned; he was imprisoned, and he was whipped until he became unconscious. It is related that Imam al-Shāfiʿī saw a dream before this, in which the Prophet (peace be upon him) was giving Imam Aḥmad the glad tidings of Paradise, because of a trial he was about to go through, an impending trial upon him; and then that happened. The trial was about khalq al-Qurʾān; that too was mentioned by the Prophet (peace be upon him).

So Imam al-Shāfiʿī, on seeing this dream (and it should be remembered that Imam Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal was his student), sent a messenger to Imam Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, to Baghdad, with a letter. He sent a letter to Baghdad. When Imam Aḥmad read this, he began to weep. And out of happiness at this beautiful dream, at this great dream, he took off his qamīṣ.

This is actually a tradition of the ʿulamāʾ, and even of the Ṣaḥābah. When Kaʿb ibn Mālik (may Allah be pleased with him) was given the glad tidings of his forgiveness, he took off the clothing he had on and gave it to the messenger, the random person who came to tell him, meaning it was not necessarily somebody special. He gave him the qamīṣ that was on his body. He had two qamīṣ on that day, two shirts. When Imam al-Shāfiʿī was given this, he washed it, and he used that water.