He said: When al-Ḥuṭayʾah recited, “What will you say of the nestlings in Dhī Marakh,” ʿUmar began to weep. ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ remarked, “Neither the green sky that shelters us nor the dusty earth that bears us has ever carried a man more just than one who sheds tears because he has let al-Ḥuṭayʾah go.”

It is further related that ʿUmar wanted to cut out the poet’s tongue so that he could no longer revile people. He seated him on a chair and a razor was brought. The people said, “Commander of the Faithful, he will not do it again.” They signaled to al-Ḥuṭayʾah, “Say: ‘I shall not return.’” He duly said, “I shall not return.” ʿUmar then told him, “Be off!”

When the poet had turned away, ʿUmar called, “Come back, al-Ḥuṭayʾah.” He returned, and ʿUmar said, “I can almost see you sitting with some young man of Quraysh: he will have placed one cushion behind you and spread another in front of you and will say, ‘Al-Ḥuṭayʾah, sing for us,’ whereupon you will burst forth with songs that lampoon people’s honor.”

Aslam narrates: “Afterwards I saw al-Ḥuṭayʾah with ʿUbayd Allah ibn ʿUmar. He had set up a cushion behind him and another in front and said, ‘Al-Ḥuṭayʾah, sing for us.’ The poet began to sing. I said to him, ‘Al-Ḥuṭayʾah! Do you remember the day when ʿUmar warned you as he did?’ He was startled and replied, ‘May Allah have mercy on that man! Had he been alive, we would never be doing this.’ I then said to ʿUbayd Allah, ‘I heard your father say such-and-such; you are that very man.’”

Al-Zubayr said: Muḥammad ibn al-Ḍaḥḥāk related to me from his father that ʿUmar said to al-Ḥuṭayʾah, “Give up composing poetry.” The poet answered, “I cannot.” ʿUmar asked, “Why not?” He replied, “It is the food of my dependents and the remedy of my tongue.” ʿUmar said, “Then give up excessive praise.” The poet asked, “And what is that, O Commander of the Faithful?” ʿUmar replied, “You say, ‘The sons of So-and-so are better than the sons of So-and-so.’ Praise, but do not set one clan above another.” The poet responded, “Commander of the Faithful, you are a better poet than I.”

Among his fine and celebrated panegyrics are these verses:
“Spare them, by your father’s life, your blame—
Or else fill the place they have filled!
They are a people who, when they build, build well;
When they pledge, they fulfill; when they bind, they bind fast.
If blessing comes to them, they repay it;
And when they bestow a favor, they neither taint it nor begrudge it.” (2)

They also report that when al-Ḥuṭayʾah was on his deathbed he was told, “Make a bequest.” He said, “I counsel you to look after poetry.” Then he recited:
“Poetry is a lofty, lengthy ladder;
If one unversed in it tries to climb,
His foot slips and he falls to the depths.
Poetry cannot be mastered by one who wrongs it—
He wishes to give it clear Arabic form, but only corrupts it.” (3)

Abu’l-Faraj Ibn al-Jawzi states in al-Muntaẓam that al-Ḥuṭayʾah died in this year. In the same entry he also records the death of ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿĀmir ibn Kurayz, though we have already mentioned him under the previous year.