He proceeded to sanction sodomy and sexual intercourse with one’s own sister, and ordered that anyone who refused be put to death.

I was then ushered into his presence; several severed heads lay before him. I prostrated to him while Abu Ṭāhir and the leading men stood around.

He said to Abu Ṭāhir, “Kings have always kept heads stored in their treasuries—ask him how they are preserved.”

So I was questioned. I replied, “Our god knows best, but I would say this: when a human body dies it needs such-and-such an amount of aloes and camphor, and the head is only a part, so it receives its proportion.”

He exclaimed, “How excellent his answer!”

The physician continued, “All those days I kept hearing them curse Abraham, Moses, Muhammad, and ʿAlī. I even saw a copy of the Qur’an smeared with filth.

“One day Abu al-Faḍl said to his scribe, ‘Write to the caliph, send blessings upon Muhammad for them, and measure out a portion from the bag of nūra (lime) (1).’

“The scribe replied, ‘By Allah, my hand will never stretch out to do that.’ Thereupon Abu al-Faḍl violated a sister of Abu Ṭāhir al-Jannābī, slaughtered her son in her lap, then killed her husband, and was about to kill Abu Ṭāhir himself.

“So Abu Ṭāhir conspired with his secretary Ibn Sanbar and another man against him. They said, ‘Our god, Abu Ṭāhir’s mother has died; come and fill her belly with fire.’

“He had already been conditioned for such things, so he came and said, ‘Will you not respond to her?’ They replied, ‘No, for she died an unbeliever.’ They pressed him again; he grew suspicious and said, ‘Do not rush me—let me tend your mounts until my father arrives.’

“Ibn Sanbar cried, ‘Woe to you! You have exposed us—we have been arranging this mission for sixty years. If your father were here he would kill you. Kill him, Abu Ṭāhir!’

“‘I fear he may transform me,’ Abu Ṭāhir said. So Abu Ṭāhir’s brother struck off the lad’s head.

“Ibn Sanbar then gathered the people and proclaimed, ‘This youth came with a lie he stole from a vein of truth, and we have found someone above him who can violate him. We had heard that the believers must face a trial after which truth will appear. Extinguish the fire-temples, cease marrying your mothers, abandon sodomy, and revere the prophets.’

“They clamored, shouting, ‘Every time you tell us something different!’ Abu Ṭāhir then lavished gold on them until they quieted down.”