Abū Jaʿfar tested the sword’s weight, slipped it beneath his cushion, and turned to rebuke him.
“Tell me about the letter you sent to my brother Abū al-ʿAbbās in which you forbade him to appropriate dead land. Were you trying to teach us the religion?”
“I thought taking it was unlawful,” Abū Muslim replied.
“Then explain why you rode ahead of me on the ḥajj route.”
“I feared that if our caravans met at the same watering place it would inconvenience the people.”
“And ʿAbd Allāh’s slave-girl—did you intend to take her for yourself?”
“No. I only feared she might be lost, so I had her carried in a covered litter and placed someone in charge of her.”
“And your slipping away to Khurāsān?”
“I was afraid you might be harboring some resentment toward me, so I said to myself: I shall go there and send you my apology. Now, surely, whatever was in your heart against me has gone?”
“By Allah,” al-Manṣūr exclaimed, “I have never seen the like of today!” Then he struck his hand as a signal, and the men rushed out at him.
It is also reported that al-Manṣūr said to him, “Are you not the one who wrote to me, putting your own name first? The one who petitioned me for the hand of Amīna bint ʿAlī, my aunt? The one who claims to be a son of Salīṭ ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās? And furthermore, what drove you to kill Sulaymān ibn Kathīr—despite his services to our daʿwa and his being one of our naqibs (delegates)?”
“He disobeyed me and meant to oppose me, so I killed him,” Abū Muslim answered.
“And you have opposed me,” al-Manṣūr retorted. “May Allah cause me to perish if I do not kill you!” He struck him with a club, whereupon the others leapt upon him. This took place with five days remaining in Shaʿbān.
Some relate that when al-Manṣūr reviled him, Abū Muslim fell upon the caliph’s hand, kissing it and pleading for pardon.
Another account says that when Ibn Nahīk first struck him, he only severed the straps of his sword, and Abū Muslim cried out, “Commander of the Faithful, spare me for your enemy!”
Al-Manṣūr replied, “Then may Allah not preserve me! For what enemy is more dangerous to me than you?”
Al-Manṣūr then resolved to execute the emir Abū Isḥāq, commander of Abū Muslim’s guard, as well as Naṣr ibn Mālik al-Khuzaʿī, but Abū al-Jahm interceded for them, saying, “Commander of the Faithful…”