“That is while I am alive; once I am dead you will concoct even greater lies about me.” (1)

Ibn ʿĀʾisha said: ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān sent al-Shaʿbī to the Emperor of Byzantium—as an envoy. When he returned, the Caliph asked him:

“O Shaʿbī, do you know what the Byzantine ruler has written to me?”

He replied, “And what did he write, Commander of the Faithful?”

The Caliph said, “He wrote: ‘I have long been amazed at the people of your religion—why did they not make your Messenger their ruler?’”

I answered, “Commander of the Faithful, that is because he saw me but has never seen you.” (2)

Al-Aṣmaʿī records the report with the Caliph adding, “O Shaʿbī, his real aim was to provoke me to kill you.” When that reached the Byzantine king, he exclaimed, “Well said—by God, that is exactly what I intended.” (2)

Yūsuf ibn Bahlūl the ḥāfiẓ narrated: Jābir ibn Nūḥ told us, Mujālid told me, from al-Shaʿbī, who said:

“When al-Ḥajjāj arrived, he questioned me about various branches of knowledge and found me well-informed. He therefore made me the ʿarīf over my own clan, the Shaʿbiyyūn, and supervisor (mankib) over the whole of Hamdān, and he assigned me a stipend. I remained in his good graces until the revolt of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ashʿath. Then the Qur’an-reciters of Kūfa came to me and said, ‘Abū ʿAmr, you are the spokesman of the reciters.’

“They would not relent until I went out with them. I stood between the two lines of troops, speaking of al-Ḥajjāj and criticizing him for various matters. Word reached me that he had said, ‘Are you not amazed at this vile fellow? By Allah, if God grants me power over him, I will make the world for him narrower than the hide of a camel.’ (4)

“Not long thereafter we were routed. I went home, locked myself in, and stayed there nine months. Then he called for volunteers to go to Khurāsān. Qutaybah ibn Muslim stood up and said, ‘I will take it on.’ So al-Ḥajjāj invested him with authority over Khurāsān, and a herald proclaimed, ‘Whoever joins Qutaybah’s army is safe.’

“My servant bought me a donkey and supplied me with provisions. I set out and joined the army, and I remained with them until we reached Farghānah. (5)"