(631) By the chain of my sheikh Abu al-Fath Muhammad ibn al-Hasan—may God have mercy on him: Abu al-Husayn Muhammad ibn Isa al-Kinani narrated to us, saying: our Lord and Sheikh Abu Abd Allah al-Husayn ibn Hamdan al-Khasibi—may God ennoble his station—narrated to me, saying: Yahya ibn Ma’in al-Samiri narrated to me, saying: "I was with my Lord Abu Shu’ayb in a garden at al-Matira partaking of Abd al-Nur, when the servant of the garden entered and said: 'O my lord, Ishaq desires to enter upon you; what do you command?' He replied: 'We permit him to enter.' Ishaq entered, offered peace, and sat. Then he said: 'O my lord, I do not know the cause of the friction between me and Fadaweih al-Kurdi. It has reached me that he curses me, disparages me, and spreads foul rumors about me. The proof of the truthfulness of the one who informed me is how he confronted me to my face in your presence, saying: "You issue legal opinions without truth, without what God commanded you, and in opposition to the Sunnah."' He said: 'By God, I am a mujtahid [independent legal reasoner] in my reliance upon the Truth in what I say and present.'

Lord Abu Shu’ayb said to him: "It is not permissible, O Abu Ya’qub, for you to say that. Every mujtahid is a risk-taker and an error-maker if there is in the time a deliverer from God or an Imam who is his sovereign, and the Master is present and witnessed. Your striving (ijtihad) to hit upon the Truth is but a futile toil (ana’)¹; so leave it aside and ask your Imam, and He will answer you, for He is the guarantor for ijtihad. The Imam is the guarantor and the Muezzin is the trustee; because the Muezzin is the deliverer from the Imam, and he is a reliable trustee taking from a reliable deliverer unto a reliable [recipient]. O Abu Ya’qub: what was it that transpired between Uthman and Abu Dharr?"

Ishaq said: "Then Abu Dharr is Fadaweih al-Kurdi." Abu Shu’ayb said to him: "Ask the Master regarding that." Ishaq said: "It is enough for Fadaweih that he is a Kurd, a non-Arab (a’jami) who does not find nobility." Abu Shu’ayb said to him: "Do not say that, O Ishaq. A questioner asked the Master: 'O my Master, who is better: an Arab son of an Arab who recognizes God, or a non-Arab son of a non-Arab who recognizes God?'