had me brought forward, and he said, “What is the matter?”

I answered, “All is well; it is something that concerns me personally.”

He calmed down, dismissed the guards, and I said, “You have set yourself against me, sir. You have begun to harm me, to devote your time to my ruin. By my life, I have done poorly in your service, yet I have exhausted myself trying to set things right with you, and it has availed nothing. Nothing is weaker than a cat; but when it wreaks havoc in the butcher’s stall and the butcher catches it, squeezes it, the cat still leaps and claws. So either you make peace with me, or—by Allah—I shall go to the Caliph, carry to him two million dinars, and say, ‘Hand Ibn al-Furāt over to So-and-so and give him the vizierate.’ He will do it, torture you, take from you an equal sum, and magnify my standing by dismissing one vizier and installing me in his place.”

He said, “Enemy of Allah! Would you really regard that as permissible?”

I replied, “You have forced me to it. Otherwise, swear to me this very moment that you will treat me fairly.”

He said, “And you must also swear—that you will render me loyal obedience and support?”

I said, “Yes.”

He said, “May Allah curse you, O Iblīs (Satan); you have bewitched me!”

He took up an inkwell, we drew up the wording of the oath, and I made him swear first. Then he said, “Abū ʿAbd Allāh, you have risen greatly in my estimation. When gold is involved, al-Muqtadir sees no difference between my competence and that of my lowliest scribe. Keep what has occurred secret.”

I said, “Subḥān Allāh (Glory be to Allah)!”

He then said, “Come tomorrow, and you will see how I deal with you.”

I returned home before dawn.

His son said, “Is this the conduct of the man about whom those tales are told?”

I replied, “No.”

Al-Tanūkhī comments: Perhaps by this move the vizier intended evil for him—so we ask Allah for safety.

Ibn al-Jaṣṣāṣ died in Shawwāl of the year 315 AH, having reached an advanced age.