—said to the Persian, “What have you to say?”

He replied, “No—by Allah—I shall tell you the truth: he has never given me anything, neither little nor much.”

ʿUmar then turned to al-Mughīrah and asked, “What was your purpose in this?”

He answered, “That vile fellow lied about me, so I wanted to disgrace him.” (1)

Salamah ibn Bilāl narrated, on the authority of Abū Rajāʾ al-ʿAṭāridī:

“The conquest of al-Uballah (2) was accomplished at the hands of ʿUtbah ibn Ghazwān. When ʿUtbah set out to meet ʿUmar, he said to al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah, ‘Lead the people in prayer.’ (3)

When ʿUtbah died, ʿUmar wrote to al-Mughīrah appointing him governor of Basra, and he remained there for three years.

ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn ʿAṭāʾ told us—Saʿīd related to us from Qatādah—that Abū Bakrah, Nāfiʿ ibn al-Ḥārith (4), and Shibl ibn Maʿbad testified against al-Mughīrah, saying that they had seen him insert and withdraw. Ziyād was their fourth witness, and it was he who spoiled their case.

The other three delivered their testimony.

Abū Bakrah declared, “By Allah, it was as though I were looking at a donkey’s member between her thighs.”

When ʿUmar saw Ziyād he said, “I see before me an eloquent young man who will speak nothing but the truth, and he will not conceal anything from me.”

[Ziyād] said, “I did not see what they claim; I only saw something suspicious and heard heavy breathing.”

So ʿUmar flogged them and released him. (5)

He is Ziyād ibn Abīhi.

The incident was also related at length—without a chain of transmission—by Sayf ibn ʿUmar and by Abū Ḥudhayfah al-Najjārī. (6)