Abu Bakr ibn Abi Khaythamah also transmitted this report: from Muhammad ibn Yazid, from Abu Bakr ibn ʿAyyash, from ʿAsim ibn Abi al-Nujūd and al-Aʿmash, both of whom heard al-Hajjaj—may Allah disfigure him—say the same words. In that version he added:
“By Allah, if I ordered you to leave through this door and you went out through another, your blood would be lawful for me. I shall not find anyone reciting according to the reading of Ibn Umm ʿAbd without striking off his head, and I will scrape it out of the muṣḥaf (written codex) even with the rib of a swine.”
More than one narrator related the same from Abu Bakr ibn ʿAyyash, and in some accounts he said, “By Allah, if I could lay my hands on the slave of Hudhayl I would certainly behead him.” ⦗1⦘
Such was the brazen audacity of al-Hajjaj—may Allah curse him—and his readiness to utter vile, unlawful speech. All that moved him against the reading of Ibn Masʿūd, Allah be pleased with him, was that it differed from the official muṣḥaf upon which ʿUthman had united the people. It appears that Ibn Masʿūd later accepted the position of ʿUthman and those who agreed with him; Allah knows best.
ʿAli ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Mubashshir reported—from ʿAbbas al-Dūrī, from Muslim ibn Ibrahim: al-Ṣalt ibn Dinar said, “I heard al-Hajjaj on the pulpit of Wāsiṭ saying, ‘ʿAbd Allah ibn Masʿūd is the chief of the hypocrites; had I reached him I would have made the earth drink of his blood.’” ⦗2⦘
He continued: “I also heard him on the pulpit of Wāsiṭ recite the verse, ‘Grant me a dominion that shall not belong to anyone after me’ (Q 38:35), and then say, ‘By Allah, Solomon must have been envious!’”
Such outrageous speech almost amounts to outright disbelief—may Allah disgrace him, humble him, banish him and drive him far away. ⦗3⦘
Among his other monstrous statements is what Abu Dawud ⦗4⦘ likewise narrated: Isḥaq ibn Ismaʿil al-Taliqani told us; Jarir told us—and Zuhayr ibn Harb told us; Jarir told us from al-Mughira, from al-Rabiʿ ⦗5⦘ ibn Khalid al-Ḍabbi—who said: “I heard al-Hajjaj preaching and in his sermon he asked, ‘Which is more honored by you: the envoy you send on your personal business, or the governor who looks after your households?’ I said to myself, ‘I pledge before Allah never again to pray behind you, and if I find people who wage war against you, I will fight alongside them.’”
Isḥaq added: “He fought in the Battle of al-Jamājim until he was killed.”
If this report is sound, its plain sense is sheer disbelief—whether he meant to place the office of the caliphate above prophethood, or to claim that a caliph from Banu Umayyah is superior to the Messenger.