The Hatim’s Corner all but clasps his familiar palm
whenever he approaches to touch it.
He lowers his gaze in modesty, and others lower theirs in awe of him;
no one speaks to him save when he smiles.
This is the son of Fāṭimah—should you not recognize him—
by his grandfather the Prophets of Allah reached their seal. (1)
It is a long ode.
He said: Hishām therefore ordered al-Farazdaq to be imprisoned, and he was confined at ʿUsfān. ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn sent him twelve thousand dirhams, saying, “Forgive me, Abū Firās.”
Al-Farazdaq returned the money, saying, “I spoke only out of zeal for Allah and His Messenger.”
ʿAlī sent it back, saying, “I adjure you by my right over you to accept it. Allah knows your intention and sees your station.” So he accepted it.
Concerning Hishām he composed:
“Does he confine me between Madinah and the place
to which the hearts of people devotedly yearn?
He turns a head that was never the head of a chief,
and two cross-eyed eyes whose defects are plain.” (2)
ʿAlī’s mother was one of the princesses descended from the Persian kings; after al-Ḥusayn—peace be upon him—her guardian Zuyayd married her, and she bore him ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ziyad—spelled with two y’s. This was stated by Ibn Saʿd. (3)
It was also said that she was the aunt of the caliph Yazīd ibn al-Walīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik.
Al-Wāqidī, Abū ʿUbayd, al-Bukhārī, and al-Fallas said: He died in the year four.