enabling him then to do whatever he wishes. These men have been watching me for fifteen days and have never seen me eat so much as a morsel, and I have reached the limit of my endurance. Take a pound of raisins and a pound of almonds, pound them together until they are like oil-cake(1). Spread the mixture out thin, like a sheet of paper, place it between two leaves as though it were a notebook, and carry that “notebook” in your hand, half open and folded so that it will escape notice. Smuggle it in to me in secret so that I can eat from it, and I shall drink water under the pretext of rinsing my mouth; that will keep me going for another fifteen days.

I continued doing this for him for the entire length of his confinement.

Ismāʿīl al-Khaṭībī says in his History: A man known as al-Ḥallāj came to public attention. He was being held in the Sultan’s prison because of a denunciation leveled against him during the vizierate of ʿAlī ibn ʿĪsā. Various kinds of heresy were attributed to him, and he contrived ruses to mislead the people—ploys resembling sleight-of-hand, sorcery, and a claim to prophethood. The vizier exposed him and reported the matter to al-Muqtadir. Al-Ḥallāj did not admit to the accusations, so the ruler punished him, crucified him alive for several days, and had a public proclamation made against him. He was then imprisoned for years, transferred from one jail to another, until he was finally confined in the royal palace. There he beguiled a number of pages, deceived them, and won them over with a stratagem, so that they began to shield him and ward others off. He then corresponded with several leading figures, and they responded to him. The affair escalated until it was reported that he had claimed divinity. Informers pursued a group of his followers; they were arrested, and some were found to possess his writings that confirmed what had been alleged. His notoriety spread, and people began speaking of putting him to death.

The caliph handed him over to the vizier Ḥāmid and ordered that he be examined in the presence of the judges and confronted with his companions; weighty matters ensued. When the ruler became certain of his case, he ordered that al-Ḥallāj be executed and burned on the seventh day before the end of Dhū al-Qaʿda in the year 309 AH. He was flogged with roughly a thousand lashes, his hands and feet were cut off, and he was struck—

(1) A compact cake of pressed pulp—here the residue left after extracting oil—which can be eaten in small portions.