234 – Al-Hasan ibn Jahur ibn Ziyad, the client of Banu Hashim, narrated to me; al-Haytham ibn ‘Adi related to us from ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Ayyash, from Husayn ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman and others, from ‘Amr ibn Maymun al-Awdi, from Jarir ibn ‘Abd Allah, who said:

We captured a city in Fars, and people directed us to a cave in which, they said, great wealth was stored. We went in, accompanied by a few Persians, and inside that cave we found a large quantity of weapons and treasure ⦗179⦘. We then moved on until we reached a house shaped like a vaulted pavilion, sealed by an enormous rock. When we prised the covering away, we discovered inside the pavilion a golden couch on which lay the most fearsome-looking man we had ever seen, clad in robes that had fallen to tatters. By his head stood a tablet inscribed with these words, which were read aloud to us:

“O slave owned by Allah, do not act arrogantly toward your Creator, and do not overstep the limits because of the power Allah has granted you. Know that death is your end—no matter how long you live—and that the Reckoning lies ahead of you. You have been given a fixed term, and when it expires you will be seized suddenly, at the very moment life is dearest to you. Therefore, send forth good deeds for yourself; you will find them ready at hand. Take from the delusive goods of this world provisions for the day of your destitution.

O slave owned by Allah, take admonition from me, for in my state there is a lesson, and through me Allah has established a proof against you. I am Bahram ibn Bahram, king of Persia. Among them I was the harshest in oppression, the hardest of heart, the one with the longest ambitions, the most skilled in governance, the most eager for pleasure, and the most zealous in hoarding worldly wealth. I subjugated distant lands, slew defiant kings, routed mighty armies, and humbled noble champions. I lived five hundred years and amassed from this world what no one before me had amassed, yet ⦗180⦘ I could not ransom myself from death when it descended upon me.”