that he was told, “You are surrounded by a great multitude of your retainers and troops; why not remain in the seat of your honor and send the gifts instead?”

He replied, “Had I wished, it would have come to pass, but I preferred Allah and did not see fit to go out.”

Yazīd then said to him, “We have delegated that man”—meaning his presenting himself to al-Ḥajjāj.

On another day Sulaymān asked him, “To what did you turn in time of battle?”

He answered, “To supplication and steadfastness.”

Sulaymān said, “Which horses did you find the most enduring?”

He replied, “The chestnut-coloured ones.”

He asked, “Which nations fight the hardest?”

He said, “They are too many for me to list.”

He said, “Then tell me about the Byzantines.”

He answered, “Lions within their fortresses, falcons upon their horses, women when they ride in their carriages. Should they see an opening, they seize it; should they see themselves overmatched, they are like ibexes fleeing into the mountains, for they do not regard retreat as a shame.”

He asked, “And the Berbers?”

He replied, “Of all the non-Arabs they most resemble the Arabs in meeting the enemy, in valor, patience, and horsemanship—yet they are the most treacherous of people.”

He asked, “And the people of al-Andalus?”

He said, “Spoiled kings and horsemen who do not know fear.”

He asked, “And the Franks?”

He replied, “There you will find numbers, endurance, severity, and might.”

He asked, “How was the fighting between you and them?”

He said, “As for that, by Allah, no standard of mine has ever been broken, no army of mine scattered, and no Muslims under my command have suffered calamity since I passed the age of forty until I reached eighty. Indeed, I once sent al-Walīd an emerald bowl (1) in which milk was poured such that even a single white hair could be seen in it….” He then proceeded to list the jewels and emeralds he had taken until Sulaymān was left bewildered.

It is also said that when Marwān appointed his son ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz over Egypt, he placed Mūsā ibn Nuṣayr with him, and that Mūsā later served as vizier in Iraq alongside Bishr ibn Marwān.

Al-Fasawī said, “He was a man of resolve and sound judgment. He conquered many lands and was appointed over Ifriqiya in the year 79 AH.”

And it is reported that he once declared, “By Allah, were the people to submit to me, I would lead them until I set them at …”