534 - Zakariyya ibn Yahya informed me, saying: I heard Abu 'Abd Allah [Ahmad ibn Hanbal] when a man said to him: "Who prefers 'Ali over 'Uthman?" He replied: "That is a statement of evil."

535 - Abu Bakr al-Khallal said: We do not see in this chapter—despite Abu 'Abd Allah's withholding judgment in more than one place, as he dislikes saying 'he is an innovator'—that he saw any harm if one were to say to him: 'You are an innovator.' Yet, I have not seen him in this chapter state decisively that he is an innovator. This is because the issue narrated by 'Ali ibn 'Abd al-Samad from Harun was also narrated by Abu Bakr ibn Sadaqah from Harun, and he [al-Khallal] placed it at the end of the chapters because he added information to it, saying therein: 'This is severe now, this is severe now.' He did not say what 'Ali ibn 'Abd al-Samad said, and 'Ali ibn 'Abd al-Samad also doubted the wording. Thus, the settled opinion from Abu 'Abd Allah is that he dislikes this statement, yet he did not make a definitive judgment regarding branding him an innovator. If a speaker says: 'He is an innovator,' it would not be rejected [denounced] against him. And with Allah is the granting of success.