of the Believers reciting that verse over me. Will you pledge that you will never rise against me or against any one of my offspring?"

He answered, "No, by Allah—I would never do that, nor is it my concern."

The caliph replied, "You have spoken the truth. Rabiʿ, give him three thousand dinars and escort him back to his family in Madinah."

I arranged everything for him that very night, and by morning he was already on the road, lest anything hinder him.

Al-Khaṭīb said: Abū al-ʿAlāʾ al-Wāsiṭī informed us; ʿUmar ibn Shāhīn related to us; al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Qāsim related to us; Aḥmad ibn Wahb narrated to me; ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ṣāliḥ al-Azdī said:

Hārūn al-Rashīd made the pilgrimage, and when he came to the grave of the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—Mūsā ibn Jaʿfar was with him. Al-Rashīd said, “Peace be upon you, O Messenger of Allah, O cousin,” boasting before the people around him.

Mūsā stepped forward and said, “Peace be upon you, O father.”

Hārūn’s face changed and he said, “That, O Abū al-Ḥasan, is pride in its proper place.”

Yaḥyā ibn al-Ḥasan al-ʿAlawī said: ʿAmmār ibn Abān narrated to me:

Mūsā ibn Jaʿfar was imprisoned under the authority of al-Sindī ibn Shāhak. Al-Sindī’s sister, who was devout (1), asked that the responsibility for guarding him be placed in her hands, and he agreed. She attended to him and later told us:

“After performing the late-night prayer, he would praise and glorify Allah and supplicate to Him, remaining in that state until the night was nearly gone. When it was, he would rise to pray until he had offered the dawn prayer. Then he would engage in remembrance until sunrise, sit until the forenoon had well advanced, prepare himself, use the miswak, and eat. He would then rest until shortly before noon, perform ablution, pray the ʿaṣr prayer, and continue in remembrance facing the qibla until he prayed maghrib. After that he would pray between maghrib and the night prayer.”

She used to say, “Ruined are the people who laid hands on this man.”

He was indeed a righteous servant. It is also said that Mūsā al-Kāẓim sent a letter from prison to Hārūn al-Rashīd, stating:

“Not a single day of affliction passes over me without a corresponding day of ease passing away from you—until we both arrive at the Day that never ends, on which the wrongdoers shall be the losers.”