صالح بن عبد القدوس البصري

Salih ibn Abd al-Quddus of Basra was brought before al-Mahdi on a charge of heresy (zandaqa). He professed repentance, and al-Mahdi released him. Then al-Mahdi took him back and reminded him of his saying that an old man does not give up his habits. He replied that al-Mahdi too would not give up his habits until he died, and al-Mahdi ordered him killed. al-Suyuti records this in Tarikh al-Khulafa' ². See the execution of Salih ibn Abd al-Quddus.

Ibn al-Nadim lists him among the theologians who professed Islam while concealing heresy ³.

The appendix to the Fihrist reports that when a son of his died he grieved deeply, and Abu al-Hudhayl al-Allaf, the head of the Mu'tazila, came to him as one who shared his grief. His book "al-Shukuk" is described as such that whoever reads it begins to doubt what was certain, and to doubt what never was, until he imagines it was ⁴.

These descriptions are transmitted by the historians. The museum attributes them to their sources and does not judge them.