Among the letters al-Aʿṣam sent to Jaʿfar ibn Falaḥ, in which he threatened him, were these verses:

Letters are an excuse, and envoys tell the news;
generosity is to be emulated, and goodness is at hand.

War lies dormant and the horses stand motionless;
peace is on offer, and the shade is long.

If you repent, your repentance will be welcomed;
but if you refuse, the saddle-girth is already drawn tight.

Upon the backs of mounts that will carry us
all the way to Damascus, whose gate we shall leave smashed and shut.

I am a man to whom—by nature and by choice—
no clanging drum, no flute, and no lute appeal.

I never sleep with my belly full from plenty
while a companion beside me is hollow-bellied and worn out.

Never has the world seduced me into greed,
nor have its promises ever deceived me. (1)

He also composed:

She has an eye that is sound, yet her eyelids
are struck with a sickness that captivates and destroys hearts.

A cheek like a garden rose, plucked only by the eyes—
so rare now that none may gather it.

And a curling lock upon her temple; had it known its grace,
it would have taken pity on the lovers it enthralls. (2)

196 – Abū al-Shaykh ʿAbd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn Ḥayyān *
The Imām, ḥāfiẓ, truthful authority, and ḥadith scholar of Isfahān: Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn Ḥayyān, widely known as Abū al-Shaykh, author of numerous works.