of its wall. He therefore ordered ladders to be built and they climbed up them. It is also related that he ordered a man to scale the wall; yet the moment he saw what was inside he could not restrain himself and hurled his own body into the city, and that was the last that was ever seen of him. A second man did likewise, after which the rest refused to climb. Consequently, no one ever discovered what lay within. They moved on, travelling until they reached a lake not far from the city.
People said that it was there that the previously mentioned jars were found, and that they saw a man standing beside them. Mūsā asked him, “What are you?” He replied, “I am one of the jinn. My father is imprisoned in this lake—Solomon confined him here—and I come once each year to visit him.”
Mūsā then asked, “Have you seen anyone enter or leave this city?”
He said, “No—except that once a year a man comes to this lake, spends a few days in worship, and then departs never to return. Allah knows best who he is.” Mūsā thereafter returned to Ifrīqiyyah. Allah knows best the truth of this report, and the responsibility falls upon the one who first narrated it. (1)
In the year 93 AH, when drought struck Ifrīqiyyah, Mūsā ibn Nuṣayr led the people in the prayer for rain (istisqāʾ). He instructed them to fast three days beforehand, went out with the people, separated the People of the Book from the Muslims, and parted the livestock from their young. He then ordered loud lamentation and weeping while he supplicated Allah Most High until midday.
When he came down it was said to him, “Will you not pray for the Commander of the Believers?”
He answered, “This is a station in which none is mentioned but Allah, Mighty and Majestic.” And Allah, Mighty and Majestic, granted them rainfall. (2)
Toward the end of al-Walīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik’s reign, Mūsā ibn Nuṣayr travelled to meet him. He entered Damascus on a Friday while al-Walīd was on the pulpit. Mūsā was dressed in elegant clothing and appeared in splendid form, accompanied by thirty young men [sons of the kings he had taken captive] and by Spaniards, (3) all of whom he had crowned with royal diadems and surrounded with servants, attendants, and great pomp. When al-Walīd, delivering his sermon from the pulpit of the Grand Mosque of Damascus, saw them, he was astounded by the silk, jewels, and dazzling adornment they wore. Mūsā approached, greeted al-Walīd upon the pulpit, and ordered the youths to stand to its right and left. Al-Walīd praised and thanked Allah for the victory and the expansion of his realm, prolonging his invocation and gratitude until the time for the Friday prayer was nearly over. He then descended, led the people in prayer, and afterwards summoned Mūsā ibn Nuṣayr, honoring him with a handsome reward and bestowing abundant gifts upon him. (4)
Among the treasures Mūsā had brought was the Table of Solomon son of David (may Allah have mercy on him) from which he used to eat. It was fashioned of a mixture of gold and silver and encircled by three bands of pearls and gemstones the like of which had never been seen. He had found it in the city of Ṭulayṭila (Toledo) in al-Andalus together with a vast hoard of wealth.
It is also said that he dispatched his son Marwān with an army that seized one hundred thousand captives, and sent his nephew with another force that likewise captured one hundred thousand prisoners from among the Berbers. When his letter reached al-Walīd and he mentioned in it that one-fifth of the spoils