The letter of the excellent shaykh has arrived. May God prolong his life and continue to protect and support him. We were pleased to learn of his safety and complete well-being. For this we thank God greatly; His blessings and peace be upon His Messenger and the Messenger's family.
Know, shaykh, that Ḥasan ibn Muʿallā came to us accompanied by another man. May God not reward this man with goodness: there is scarcely anyone more shameless or less religious in the world. He is laden with lies and false pretenses. He carried a letter he alleged came from the community. At its beginning the letter says that Naṣr delivered to the shaykh ʿAmmār everything we had sent with him: the expenses and provisions, the equipment and other materials. It claims that he handed everything to ʿAmmār after gathering all the inhabitants of the estate, that they carried out everything communicated to them, that ʿAmmār acquainted them with it and had written acknowledgments made, and that he then departed from them, happy and pleased with the cultivation and improvement God had renewed through his hands.
Yet at the end of the same letter it says that Naṣr delivered nothing to ʿAmmār of what had been sent in his charge and told him nothing about it! It further claims that when ʿAmmār heard of the letter, he denied the affair and kept it hidden from him. Naṣr then gathered them secretly, without ʿAmmār's knowledge, and handed them everything he possessed, saying: "Take this and go with it to al-Kurdī; he is my friend." According to the letter, they rebuked him: "You should have brought it to the person to whom it was addressed," meaning ʿAmmār. Naṣr replied: "I would not be the first to cast blame upon my companion out of fear".
The bearer sealed the letter and said to us: "Take it and send it to him." We refused. So he took it, sealed it himself, and swore by God that no one should open this seal except his companion al-Kurdī. The document contained many further lies too tedious to repeat.
When we saw that one part of the letter contradicted another, we knew it belonged to the stratagems of al-Kurdī. This conclusion was reinforced by our knowledge that he has neither the understanding nor the competence to devise a sound plan of this kind. He had no understanding of what could be relied upon in such a matter; he possessed only the name, nothing more. Yet the more carefully he contrived his trick, the more plainly he exposed his lie. He had written this copy to trick the overseers of the estate and thereby bring its affairs into disorder.
I took the letter and the two men to a gathering of cultivators and estate people whom our Lord had favored before His disappearance. The whole gathering assembled and I read the letter before them, with both men present. They were overwhelmed by the shame and humiliation of their scheme; may God spare honest and truthful people such dishonor. All present could see its contradictions, falsifications, tricks, lack of religious integrity and lack of reason. They were astonished that someone would attempt such a deception against our Lord. They established that the two men had lied and that the maker of the document had lied, and understood that it was one of al-Kurdī's snares. They said: "This letter is evidence that ʿAmmār’s complaint was justified and that he had been wronged. Our Lord said before his departure: ‘I have nothing more to say to anyone.’"
The men were asked to go to the three shaykhs—Abū al-Maʿālī, Abū al-Khayr, and Abū al-Faḍl and fulfill what was required of them, repeating before those elders and the assembled people what had been done to ʿAmmār. If they refuse, we can have no further arrangement of cultivation or management of the estate with them. A letter that reaches us by deception cannot form the basis of a good conclusion or an agreement.
This Ḥasan also said that Abū al-Khayr had gone to ʿAlī and apologized to him; and that ʿAlī had said to ʿAmmār in front of the gathering, "By God, were it not for that, I would have ordered someone to drag you by your leg all through the town." Abū al-Khayr approved of this; it would be outrageous to treat in this way a man who was the community’s messenger. We hope all of this is false, like the claims we have already established as false in the letter.
The shaykh must not delay his reply. Tell us everything he knows about all that we have described and about what happened to ʿAmmār, together with the statements attributed to Abū al-Khayr and his willingness to accept these acts. If you can communicate the matter to the community, do so, that their answer may tell us what they themselves know. We shall continue to seek the truth.
Praise belongs to God, Lord of the worlds, and may His blessings rest upon His Messenger and the Messenger's pure family. Let the community know that we are not accustomed to forwarding forged documents; only the fear that failure to disclose this one would neglect an important matter made us pass it on through the appropriate channel. Our fullest greetings of peace to you and everyone with you, and from all of us to you our most complete salutation. Peace. The epistle is complete, with praise to God alone.