In the following year, in order to ensure compliance with the Mu'tazilite doctrine that the Qur'an had been created, al-Ma'mun inaugurated the mihnah or inquisition and ordered Ishaq to implement it in Baghdad. Ishaq accordingly dispatched several individuals to the caliph for questioning and interviewed a number of religious scholars himself, whereupon he received further instructions to punish those who had given unsatisfactory answers. Eventually the majority of the interrogees agreed to state that the Qur'an had been created, but Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Muhammad ibn Nuh al-'Ijli remained steadfast in their opposition and were consequently sent by Ishaq to the caliph in irons.[8]