no sooner had he finished reciting these verses than permission was sought for me so i entered upon him. he said o abu abd alrahman what do you say about wine? i said it is permissible and free o commander of the faithful. he said what do you say about what is intoxicating in large quantities? i said may god curse a small amount of it if only a large amount of it intoxicates. then he said muhammad disagrees with you. so i turned to ibn abi alabbas and said to him what do you say about what the commander of the faithful said? he said there is no disagreement between me and you. these are words that mislead the people of the assembly out of a desire to receive from me and escape from my debate not because of the truth of his permissibility. so i took advantage of that from him and said to him why do i not see the effect of his powers in your mind? almamun laughed and when i saw his laughter i went on at length about the meanings of permissible wine while ibn abi alabbas was silent and did not speak and before i entered he was a talkative man who did not keep quiet. when almamun saw his silence when i arrived despite his frequent talk about slandering and criticizing my letter which was before i entered he said reciting
فما كان إلا ريث فراغه من التمثل بهذه الأبيات حتى استؤذن لي فدخلت عليه، فقال يا أبا عبد الرحمن، ما تقول في النبيذ؟ فقلت حل طلق يا أمير المؤمنين. فقال فما تقول فيما أسكر كثيره؟ قلت لعن الله قليله إذا لم يسكر إلا كثيره. ثم قال إن محمدا يخالفك. فأقبلت على ابن أبي العباس فقلت له ما تقول فيما قال أمير المؤمنين؟ قال لا خلاف بيني وبينك. كلاما يوهم به أهل المجلس، حبا للتسلم مني والتخلص من مناظرتي، لا على حقيقة التحليل له. فاستغنمت ذلك منه وقلت له فما لي لا أرى أثر قواه في عقلك؟ فضحك المأمون، فلما رأيت ضحكه أطنبت في معاني تحليل النبيذ، وابن أبي العباس ساكت لا ينطق، وكان قبل دخولي ناطقا لا يسكت. فلما رأى المأمون سكوته عند حضوري مع كثرة كلامه في ثلب كتابي وعيبه كان قبل دخولي، قال متمثلا