87 – Al-Ḥusayn narrated to us; ʿAbd Allah narrated to us; Saʿīd ibn Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd al-Umawī narrated to us; ʿAbd Allah ibn Saʿīd, from Ziyād ibn ʿAbd Allah, narrated to us. Ibn Isḥāq said: Zayd ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Saʿd told me, saying that ʿAbd Allah ibn Abī Rāfiʿ told him:

“After ʿAlī’s death we subjected Ibn Muljam to every form of torment Allah has created, yet—by Allah—he did not utter a word until a slave-boy whom I had purchased shortly before ʿAlī was killed was brought in. I had once taken that boy to ʿAlī, and he asked, ‘What is this—nothing but a pig?’ We kept pressing him: ‘A pig, a pig!’ whereupon he said, ‘Leave me and the pig alone.’ The boy’s name was Saʿd. He seized Ibn Muljam by the nose and bit it, making him scream with a cry the like of which we had never heard. So we said, ‘Let the pig have him!’

“ʿAbd Allah ibn Jaʿfar then took charge of Ibn Muljam. He cut off his hand and his foot, and cauterised his eyes with an iron spike. Ibn Muljam kept saying to Ibn Jaʿfar, ‘You are branding your uncle’s eyes with a burning needle!’ He then ordered that his tongue be cut out, and this was the first time we saw him flinch. We said, ‘Enemy of Allah! We have severed your hands and your feet and have gouged out your eyes, and you did not flinch; yet now, when your tongue is about to be cut, you recoil?’ He replied, ‘No, by Allah, I am not afraid of my tongue being cut; I fear only remaining in this world for the briefest instant (no longer than a single milking-interval) unable to remember Allah.’ They then cut out his tongue and burned him alive while he was still breathing.

Ibn Ḥaṭṭān composed these verses ⦗78⦘:

Whenever I recall him, I imagine
that with Allah his scale will be the fullest of mankind.
O single stroke from a God-fearing hand! By it he sought
nothing but to win the pleasure of the Lord of the Throne.

Ibn Ghunwah added:

O soul, would you like a dwelling where
you might behold Muḥammad, Abū Bakr, and ʿUthmān?

The Ḥarūriyya (Kharijites) said to him, ‘You mention that man together with those?’ He replied, ‘Do not be hasty,’ and then recited:

Goodness lies in the gentle company of every righteous man—
I mean Ibn Maẓʿūn, not Ibn ʿAffān.