like a man against whom another man has a claim: he clings to him and walks round about him, hoping that the latter will pardon that offense.

Among Jaʿfar’s most eloquent sayings is what he uttered when al-Manṣūr’s stinginess was mentioned to him: “Praise be to Allah who withheld from him the worldly goods for which he would have bartered away his religion.”

ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad informed us in his book, reporting from ʿUmar ibn Muḥammad, who reported from Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Bāqī al-Anṣārī, who reported from Abū al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Muhtadī billāh, who reported from ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Aḥmad al-Ṣaydilānī, who narrated from Abū Ṭālib ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad al-Kātib, who narrated from ʿĪsā ibn Abī Ḥarb al-Ṣaffār, from al-Faḍl ibn al-Rabīʿ, from his father, who said:

Al-Manṣūr summoned me and said, “Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad is encroaching on my authority; may Allah destroy me if I do not kill him.”

So I went to Jaʿfar and said, “Respond to the Commander of the Believers.”

He performed his ablution, put on—so I think—new clothes, and I brought him along. I requested permission for him to enter, and al-Manṣūr said, “Bring him in; may Allah destroy me if I do not kill him.”

Yet when he saw Jaʿfar approaching, he rose from his seat, went to greet him and said, “Welcome, you whose record is clean, free of guile and treachery, my brother and cousin!”

He seated him beside himself on the throne, turned fully toward him, asked about his condition, and then said, “Ask me for whatever you need.”

Jaʿfar replied, “The stipends of the people of Mecca and Medina have been delayed; would you order that they be paid?”

He said, “I shall do so.”

Then he called, “Slave-girl, bring the gift.”

She brought a glass flask containing ghāliyah perfume; al-Manṣūr took it, anointed Jaʿfar with it with his own hand, and Jaʿfar departed.

I followed him and said, “O grandson of the Messenger of Allah, I brought you here fully convinced that he would kill you, yet you saw what happened. I also noticed your lips moving with something as you entered; what was it?”

He replied, “I was saying: ‘O Allah, guard me with Your Eye that never sleeps; shelter me with Your fortress that cannot be stormed; protect me by Your power over me, and do not destroy me while You are my hope. Lord, how many favors You have granted me for which my thanks to You were scant, and how many trials You have laid upon me for which my patience before You was small. O You whose blessings meet with little gratitude yet You do not withhold, O You before whose trials my patience is slight yet You do not forsake, O You who saw me committing sins and did not expose me, O Possessor of bounties that can never be numbered, O Source of beneficence…’”} وتق