just as one might say, “Striking Zayd is an injustice.” Thus al-rajul (“the man”) functions as the object of musābakum, and the sentence remains pending until you pronounce ẓulm (“injustice”); only then is it grammatically complete. Al-Wāthiq was delighted and rewarded me with 1,000 dinars (1).

It is related that al-Wāthiq had an excessive passion for sexual intercourse; to heighten his vigor he even ate lion meat, which brought on a severe ailment that caused his death.

In the second year of his caliphate he advanced his freedman Ashnās over the commanders, set a crown upon his head, and invested him with two jewel-studded sashes (2).

In the year 229 he seized the funds of the dīwāns, flogged Aḥmad ibn Abī Isrāʾīl, and took from him 800,000 dinars; he also extracted 400,000 dinars from Sulaymān ibn Wahb.

He further took 1,000,000 dinars from Aḥmad ibn al-Khaṣīb and his secretary (3).

In the year 231 Aḥmad ibn Naṣr al-Khuzaʿī (4)—a martyr—was wrongfully executed. Al-Wāthiq then ordered that the leading imams and the callers to prayer be examined concerning the doctrine that the Qur’an is created, and he ransomed 4,600 Muslim prisoners from Byzantine captivity.

Ibn Abī Dāwūd said, “Whoever does not declare that the Qur’an is created—do not ransom him.” (5)

That same year Ardamanian Zoroastrians arrived by ship from the shore of the Great Sea,