"and you have known that the sunnah has not been established in that"!! He is not truthful in what he said for two reasons: the first is that he denied the mutawātir [reports], and in this regard, the saying of Allāh is true: *"And they rejected them, while their souls were convinced thereof"* (Sūrah al-Naml, verse 14). The second is his statement: "you have known..." as it is not possible to know the validity of the claim except by presenting evidence and proof, as is intuitively understood in minds, and he did nothing of that at all except merely making the claim. This is the condition of their scholar, whom some writers claimed to be moderate and not fanatical. By Allāh, whoever's fanaticism from the people of desires leads him to reject the mutawātir reports, which the people of ḥadīth have taken care of with diligence unmatched by the people of desires, is surely incapable of establishing proof for the validity of their doctrine, in which they have deviated from the people of the sunnah and ḥadīth. This truth is not hidden, so leave me from the byways. And before I put down the pen, I say: The man al-Sālimī has become accustomed to expressing his words without restraint, supporting his doctrine and desires. Among this is that he associated with the Shīʿah and Khawārij some scholars of the sunnah from the Ẓāhiriyyah, saying (p. 178) in conjunction with those mentioned: "and Abū Bakr ibn Dāwūd al-Ẓāhirī." I say: This Abū Bakr is Muḥammad ibn Dāwūd ibn ʿAlī al-Ẓāhirī. Al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Dhahabī mentioned him in "al-Siyar" (13/109): "He narrated from his father, and ʿAbbās al-Dūrī... He had complete insight into ḥadīth and the sayings of the Companions, and he would strive and not imitate anyone."