and hand me the reeds (1) and I will pay you a wage?” He replied, “Yes.”

So he stayed with him, helping him and eating with him, until he learned the craft of weaving mats. He remained in Jerusalem for years, and no one discovered his identity. Then, in 424 AH, he returned to al-Andalus.

ʿAzīz says: This is the exact wording related by elders from al-Andalus. Ibn Ḥazm, however, records in his book Nuqṭ al-ʿArūs that he said:

“An unprecedented marvel was heard of: a man called Khalaf the Mat-maker appeared twenty-two years after the death of al-Muʾayyad bi-Allah Hisham. People swore allegiance to him, the Friday sermons in al-Andalus were delivered in his name on various occasions, and it was claimed that he was al-Muʾayyad bi-Allah Hisham himself. Blood was shed and armies collided on his account.”

ʿAzīz adds: The man who claimed to be Hisham remained a little over twenty years, while the judge Muhammad ibn Ismaʿil ibn ʿAbbād served virtually as his vizier and held the reins of power. Through this, most of al-Andalus came under Ibn ʿAbbād’s control, and he silenced the talk of the enviers until Hisham died.

I say: This story borders on fable. After 403 AH all news of al-Muʾayyad bi-Allah ceased and he departed to Allah; I suspect he was murdered in secret. He was then fifty years old, weak in judgment, scant of intellect, ready to believe what could never be. He had a peculiar passion for collecting piebald cattle (2); once he paid a great sum of money to someone who brought him a donkey’s hoof, claiming it was the hoof of al-ʿAzīz’s donkey. Another man brought him a stone, and he said, “This is from the Rock.”