463 - 'Abd Allah ibn Ahmad informed us, saying: Abu al-Hasan al-'Uqayli narrated to me, saying: I used to come to Abu 'Abd Allah [Ahmad ibn Hanbal], and he would turn to me and receive me with a kind reception. I came to him one day and found his reception to be different [than usual], so I said to myself: 'I have been afflicted, I have become something abominable to him.' So I said: 'O Abu 'Abd Allah, has something about me reached you? For I find your reception of me today to be different.' He gestured toward a young man at the side of the mosque's staircase and said: 'That man informed me—and he was from the people of al-Yamama—that you insulted or mentioned some of the Companions.' I replied: 'No, by Allah, I have never insulted any of the Companions, nor have I mentioned any of them with evil. However, I heard this man mention 'Ali and Mu'awiyah and equate the two of them.' I believe he said: 'So I rebutted him.' He [Ahmad] then said: 'Allah (the Mighty and Majestic) has clarified this in His Book.' Then he said: 'I have accepted your excuse, so do not speak about this again.'