He went on to relate an incident in which his brother ʿAbd Allah came in to see him—the words that were exchanged and the reply he gave—followed by the visit of his uncle and his rejection of taking anything from him.

Ṣāliḥ said: After that, our father cut us off, shut the doors between us and him, and avoided our houses altogether. Then, when he heard that his uncle had accepted the money, he said, “You have been two-faced with me and have lied to me!”

He broke with him, stopped praying in the usual mosque, and went to another mosque (1) to perform the prayer.

He then mentioned how he prayed for Ṣāliḥ, reproached him, and later wrote (2) to Yaḥyā ibn Khāqān asking him to discontinue the stipend given to his children. When word of this reached al-Mutawakkil, he ordered that whatever had accumulated for them over ten months be delivered to them—forty thousand dirhams in all.

When Abū ʿAbd Allah was told of this, he fell silent for a moment, lowered his head, and then said, “What device have I if I want one thing and Allah wills something else?!”

Ṣāliḥ continued: The messenger of al-Mutawakkil used to come to my father, convey the caliph’s greetings, and ask about his condition.

A shiver would seize him until we wrapped him up, after which he would say, “By Allah, if my soul were in my own hand, I would send it forth.”

The messenger of al-Mutawakkil once came to him and said, “Had anyone been spared among the people, it would have been you. A man has reported to us (3) that an ʿAlid has arrived from Khurasan and that you dispatched someone to meet him, have now detained that man, and intend to beat him. I disliked that you should be troubled, so give your ruling in the matter.”

He replied, “This is false; release him.”

Ṣāliḥ then recounted a story (4) about al-Mutawakkil’s arrival in Baghdad, Abū ʿAbd Allah’s advice to Ṣāliḥ not to go out to them, and the coming of Yaḥyā ibn Khāqān from al-Mutawakkil,