and let everyone else do the same.”

He lowered his head, then said, “Put your request before us.”

I replied, “The sons of the Emigrants and the Helpers, and all who have followed them with excellence, are waiting at your door. Fear Allah and see that their rights reach them.”

He bent his head again. Thereupon Abū ʿUbayd Allah said, “Man, present your request to us!”

I said, “And what should I ask for? Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Khālid told me that ʿUmar once performed the pilgrimage and asked his treasurer, ‘How much have you spent?’ He answered, ‘A little more than ten dirhams (1); yet I see here affairs that the very mountains could not bear (2).’”

By this same chain, Abū Nuʿaym said: Saʿd ibn Muḥammad al-Nāqid narrated to us; Muḥammad ibn ʿUthmān narrated to us; Ibn Numayr narrated to us, from his father:

Al-Thawrī met me in Mecca (3). He took my hand, greeted me, and then went on to his house. There we found ʿAbd al-Ṣamad sitting at the door waiting for him—he was the governor of Mecca. When he saw him he said, “I do not know anyone among the Muslims more deceitful to them than you.”

Sufyān replied, “I was busy with something more binding on me than coming to you.”

He had been preparing for the prayer when ʿAbd al-Ṣamad informed him that some people had come and reported the sighting of the crescent—the crescent of Dhū al-Ḥijjah. He therefore ordered him to send someone up the mountains and then announce it to the people. His hand was still holding mine as he left ʿAbd al-Ṣamad sitting at the door. He brought out a food cloth containing some leftovers: broken pieces of bread and cheese, and we ate.

He continued: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad then seized him and took him to al-Mahdī, who was in Minā. When Sufyān saw him he cried out at the top of his voice, “What are all these tents, what are these pavilions (4)?”