Makarim al-Akhlaq - Ibn Abi al-Dunya - (136)

445 — Sulaymān related to me; Yahyā ibn Sa‘īd al-Umawī related to us, on the authority of his father, who said:

A group of men from Banū Asad came before Īsā ibn Alī to petition him concerning blood-money obligations. Their spokesman was Awn ibn Jābir, who was a gifted orator. Awn spoke of Banū Asad and their kinship with Quraysh. Al-Hasan ibn Zayd ibn al-Hasan, who was with Īsā, said to him, “O Banū Asad, you certainly speak as though you had descended from heaven!”

Awn ibn Jābir turned to him and replied, “If any people were to descend from heaven by virtue of generosity or nobility, we would be the ones to do so. We are the descendants of Khuzaymah, and we are the descendants of Barrah”—meaning the daughter of Murr, who was Asad’s mother—“and you ought indeed to have supported us in our request. Since you did not, could you not at least have left us alone with the governor?”

Īsā began to take delight in Awn’s rebuke of al-Hasan and the way he addressed him. Then Īsā ordered that they be given the money they had requested for the blood-money obligations, which amounted to forty thousand.

٤٤٥ - حَدَّثَنِي سُلَيْمَانُ، نا يَحْيَى بْنُ سَعِيدٍ الْأُمَوِيُّ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، قَالَ: دَخَلَ قَوْمٌ مِنْ بَنِي أَسَدٍ عَلَى عِيسَى بْنِ عَلِيٍّ يَتَكَلَّمُونَ فِي حَمَالَاتٍ، وَكَانَ خَطِيبَهُمْ عَوْنُ بْنُ جَابِرٍ، وَكَانَ لَهُ لِسَانٌ جَيِّدٌ، فَتَكَلَّمَ عَوْنٌ وَذَكَرَ بَنِي أَسَدٍ وَقَرَابَتِهِمْ مِنْ قُرَيْشٍ، فَقَالَ لَهُ الْحَسَنُ بْنُ زَيْدِ بْنِ الْحَسَنِ، وَكَانَ عِنْدَ عِيسَى: يَا بَنِي أَسَدٍ، إِنَّكُمْ لَتَكَلَّمُونَ كَأَنَّكُمْ نَزَلْتُمْ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ، فَأَقْبَلَ عَلَيْهِ عَوْنُ بْنُ جَابِرٍ فَقَالَ: «لَوْ نَزَلَ قَوْمٌ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ جُودًا أَوْ كَرَمًا لَكُنَّا النَّازِلِينَ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ، نَحْنُ بَنُو خُزَيْمَةَ، وَنَحْنُ بَنُو بَرَّةَ يَعْنِي ابْنَةَ مُرٍّ وَهِيَ أَمُّ أَسَدٍ وَإِنْ كُنْتَ لَجَدِيرًا أَنْ تَكُونَ مَعَنَا فِي حَاجَتِنَا، فَأَلَّا - إِذْ لَمْ تَفْعَلْ - تَرَكْتَنَا وَالْأَمِيرَ» ؟ قَالَ: وَجَعَلَ عِيسَى يُسَرُّ بِمَا يُوَبِّخُ بِهِ الْحَسَنَ وَيُكَلِّمُهُ، ثُمَّ أَمَرَ لَهُمْ عِيسَى بِالْمَالِ الَّذِي طَلَبُوهُ لِلْحَمَالَاتِ، وَكَانَ أَرْبَعِينَ أَلْفًا "