After they had strung up his head with a rope while he was still in fetters, they mounted the head on the eastern side of the city. His companions were then pursued and thrown into prison.

Al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad al-Harbī said: “I heard Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad the gold-smith say, ‘I saw Aḥmad ibn Naṣr at the very moment he was killed; his head uttered, “There is no deity but Allah.”’”

Al-Marwadhī recounted: “I heard Aḥmad mention Aḥmad ibn Naṣr and say, ‘May Allah have mercy on him; he truly gave up his life.’”

A slip of paper was hung from Aḥmad ibn Naṣr’s ear bearing the words: “This is the head of Aḥmad ibn Naṣr. The Imam Hārūn summoned him to profess that the Quran is created and to repudiate anthropomorphism, but he obstinately refused. Allah has therefore hastened him to His Fire.” Underneath was written: “Written by Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Malik.”

It is said that al-Wāthiq grew furious with him because he cited a hadith to the caliph, who retorted, “You are lying!” He answered, “No, it is you who lie.”

Another report states that he addressed the caliph, “Boy!” and would say in private about al-Wāthiq, “This pig has done such-and-such.”

Fearing a possible uprising, al-Wāthiq had him killed in Shaʿbān, 231 AH; at the time his hair and beard were white.

The guard assigned to the head related that during the night he heard it reciting Sūrah Yā Sīn (36).

It has been reliably reported that they stationed a man with a cane (1); whenever the wind turned the head toward the qiblah, the man would twist it back.

Al-Sirāj said: “I heard Khalaf ibn Sālim, after Ibn Naṣr had been killed, asked, ‘Have you not heard what people are saying—that the head of Aḥmad ibn Naṣr is reciting?’ He replied, ‘The head of Yaḥyā used to recite as well.’”

It is also said that he was seen in a dream and asked, “What has Allah done with you?” He replied, “It was but the blink of an eye before I met Allah, and He smiled at me.”

And it is further reported that he—