The Affair of Ibn Muljam and His Execution
86 – Al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allah narrated to us; Ibrāhīm ibn Saʿīd al-Jawharī narrated to us; Abū Usāmah narrated to us; Abū Ṭalq ʿAlī ibn Ḥanẓalah ibn Naʿīm related to me, from his father, who said:

When Ibn Muljam struck ʿAlī, ʿAlī said, “Hold him, for it is only a wound. If I recover, I shall either exact retribution or grant him pardon; but if I die, then kill him.”

ʿAbd Allah ibn Jaʿfar was placed in charge of the prisoner, and Umm Kulthūm, the daughter of ʿAlī, was his wife. ʿAbd Allah cut off Ibn Muljam’s hands, gouged out his eyes, severed his legs, and mutilated him. Then he said, “Give me your tongue.”

Ibn Muljam replied, “After all you have done, you are merely borrowing from your own flesh. But my tongue—woe to you—leave it; with it I remember Allah, and I shall never put it out for you.”

So ʿAbd Allah split open his jaws, pulled the tongue out from between them, and cut it off. He then heated an iron nail to pierce the assassin’s eyes, whereupon Ibn Muljam said, “You are applying to your uncle’s eyes a searing metal stylus!”

Umm Kulthūm came in weeping and said, “You wicked man, by Allah, you have not harmed the Commander of the Faithful.”

He answered, “Is it for ʿAlī that you weep, O Umm Kulthūm? By Allah, my sword did not fail me, nor did my arm grow weak.” ⦗77⦘