Others maintained that his sickness came from having eaten four hundred eggs and two baskets of figs—Allah knows best.

Al-Mufaddal⦗1⦘ ibn al-Muhallab reported that on one Friday Sulaymān put on a yellow robe, then removed it and donned a green one instead. He wound a green turban around his head, sat upon a green couch, and had everything around him covered in green cloth. Looking in a mirror and admiring his own appearance, he rolled up his sleeves and declared, “I am the youthful caliph.”⦗2⦘
(It is also said that he would gaze into the mirror from head to toe and say, “I am the young king.”)⦗3⦘

Another narration has him proclaiming: “Muḥammad was a prophet, Abū Bakr was the Truthful, ʿUmar was the Criterion, ʿUthmān was modest, ʿAlī was courageous, Muʿāwiya was forbearing, Yazīd was patient, ʿAbd al-Malik was a statesman, al-Walīd was a tyrant, and I am the young king.” They say that not even a full month—according to another report, not even a week—passed after that before he died.⦗4⦘

They relate that when the fever seized him he began to perform his ablution. He summoned a serving-girl to pour the water, and she recited to him:
“You are a splendid treasure—were you only to last;
 yet no created being is granted to stay.
Faultless you are, free of every defect men hate,
 save that you, too, must pass away.”⦗5⦘

He shouted at her, saying, “You have offered condolences for my very life!” and dismissed her. He then ordered his maternal uncle, al-Walīd ibn al-Qaʿqāʿ al-ʿAbsī,⦗6⦘ to pour the water and said:
“Bring the water for ablution, O Walīd, for this world of yours
 is nothing but provision and passing enjoyment.”⦗7⦘

Walīd replied:
“So do good works for yourself while you yet live,
 for time brings both division and reunion.”⦗8⦘