to secure their capture by every possible means, but nothing worked—even to this very day. When he questioned their father about them, the latter swore that he did not know where in Allah’s earth they might be. Al-Mansur kept pressing ʿAbd Allah to hand over his two sons; ʿAbd Allah grew indignant and declared, “By Allah, even if they were beneath my very feet I would not lead you to them!” Al-Mansur, enraged, ordered him imprisoned and his slaves and property sold. ʿAbd Allah remained in jail for three years. Advisers then urged the caliph to incarcerate every last member of al-Hasan’s household, so he did, and he intensified the search for Ibrahim and Muhammad.
The two brothers, however, attended the Hajj in most years and spent the greater part of their time concealed in Madinah. No informer ever discovered them—praise be to Allah. Al-Mansur repeatedly dismissed one governor of Madinah after another, appointing new men whom he exhorted to arrest the pair, investigate their whereabouts, and spare no expense in tracking them down; yet destiny thwarted him, for Allah—exalted is He—willed otherwise.
One of Al-Mansur’s own commanders, a certain Abu al-ʿAsakir Khalid ibn Hasan, secretly sided with the brothers. During one pilgrimage they resolved to assassinate the caliph between al-Safa and al-Marwah, but ʿAbd Allah ibn Hasan forbade them out of reverence for the sanctity of the place. Al-Mansur uncovered the plot and the commander’s collusion, tortured him until he confessed, and then asked, “What made you abandon the attempt?” He replied, “ʿAbd Allah ibn Hasan forbade us.” The caliph had him removed to an unknown dungeon, and he has not been seen since.
Al-Mansur next consulted the shrewdest of his commanders and ministers about the two sons of ʿAbd Allah ibn Hasan, dispatched spies and couriers throughout the lands, yet no report, trace, or sign of them emerged—“And Allah has full power over His affairs” (Quran 12:21).
On one occasion Muhammad ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Hasan came to his mother and said, “Mother, pity for my father and my uncles has overcome me; I am on the verge of placing my hand in the hand of these people so that my family may find relief.” His mother went to the prison and repeated her son’s words. They answered, “Never—and may no honor come of it! We shall remain patient with his course; perhaps Allah will bring forth some good through him. Our relief lies in Allah’s hand: if He wills He will grant us ease, and if He wills He will tighten it.” All of them agreed on this course—may Allah be pleased with them.
In that same year the family of al-Hasan were transferred from the prison of Madinah to a prison in Iraq, fetters on their legs and iron collars on their necks. Their shackling had begun at al-Rabadha by order of Abu Jaʿfar al-Mansur. With them he also summoned Muhammad ibn ʿAbd Allah al-ʿUthmani—ʿAbd Allah ibn Hasan’s maternal brother—whose daughter, now pregnant, was married to Ibrahim ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Hasan.
The caliph brought him in and said, “You swore, invoking the emancipation of your slaves and the divorce of your wives, that you have not deceived me. Yet your daughter is pregnant. If the child is her husband’s, you knew of it; if it is someone else’s, you are a cuckold.” Al-ʿUthmani replied in a manner that angered him, whereupon the caliph ordered his clothes stripped off—his body shone like burnished silver—and had him flogged one hundred and fifty lashes, thirty delivered from overhead, one of which struck his eye and burst it. He was returned to prison looking like a black slave from the bruises and congealed blood. They seated him beside his maternal brother ʿAbd Allah ibn Hasan. When he asked for water, no one dared give it to him until a Khurasani guard among their warders offered him a drink.
Al-Mansur then mounted his curtained litter, while the prisoners were packed into cramped litters with chains and shackles upon them. He passed by them