great sums of wealth, saw personally to the welfare of his subjects, and—on the whole—was judged competent. In the conduct of public affairs he relied on ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, removed all the officials appointed by al-Ḥajjāj, and wrote to the governors: “The prayer has virtually been allowed to die; revive it by performing it at its proper times.”
He considered taking up permanent residence in Bayt al-Maqdis, but instead stationed himself at Qinnasrīn (1) on the frontier, and he performed the pilgrimage during his caliphate.
It is related that while at the Pilgrimage he surveyed the vast crowds and said to ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, “Do you not see this multitude—people whom none but Allah can count and whom none but He can provide for?”
ʿUmar replied, “Commander of the Believers, today they are your flock; tomorrow they will be your adversaries.”
Sulaymān wept and said, “I seek Allah’s help.”
Ibn Sīrīn remarked, “May Allah have mercy on Sulaymān: he opened his reign by reviving the prayer and closed it by appointing ʿUmar as his successor.”
Sulaymān prohibited people from singing.
He was also noted for his prodigious appetite; it was said that he once ate forty chickens in a single sitting. On another occasion he reportedly consumed an entire lamb, six chickens, and seventy pomegranates, after which a large basket (2) of select Ṭāʾif raisins was brought to him