155 – Yaʿqūb ibn Ismāʿīl related to me; Ḥibbān ibn Mūsā narrated to us; ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak narrated to us; Rashdīn ibn Saʿd narrated; ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥārith from Saʿīd ibn Abī Hilāl, who said that it had reached him that, during one of Dhu’l-Qarnayn’s journeys, he entered a city and its inhabitants crowded around him ⦗138⦘ to watch his procession—men, women, and children alike. At the gate sat an elderly man absorbed in his work. Dhu’l-Qarnayn passed by, but the old man did not even look up. Astonished, Dhu’l-Qarnayn sent for him and asked, “What is the matter with you? The people have thronged together to look at my mount, yet you have not.”

The old man replied, “And what, then, is the matter with you?”

Dhu’l-Qarnayn said, “What you are engaged in does not please me.”

The old man responded, “I once saw a king and a pauper die on the same day. A few days later I looked in on them and their flesh had separated; later still, their bones had shriveled and mingled together, and I could no longer tell the king from the pauper. So your kingship does not impress me.”

When Dhu’l-Qarnayn departed, he appointed that very man as governor of the city.