Some of them said:
“I used to be constant in attending the Friday prayer at the Mosque of al-Manṣūr, but an urgent matter arose, so I prayed elsewhere. In a dream I heard a voice saying, ‘You have forsaken the prayer in the city’s congregational mosque, even though every Friday no fewer than seventy of Allah’s friends (awliyāʾ) pray there!’”
Another related: “I resolved to leave Baghdad, but in a dream a voice said, ‘Will you move away from a land that contains ten thousand of Allah’s saints—exalted is He?’”
Someone else said: “I saw in a dream two angels who came to Baghdad. One of them said to the other, ‘Overturn it, for the decree against it has fallen due.’ The other replied, ‘How can I overturn a city in which the Quran is completed five thousand times every night?’ (1)”
Abū Mushir transmitted from Saʿīd ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, from Sulaymān ibn Mūsā, who said: “When a man’s scholarship is that of the Ḥijāz, his conduct that of Iraq, and his prayer that of Syria, he has attained perfection. (2)”
Zubayda said to Manṣūr al-Namari, “Compose some verses that will make me love Baghdad, for I might otherwise prefer ar-Rāfiqa.” He recited:
“What varied delights Baghdad possesses—
what dwellings fit for both worldly life and for religion!
Its breezes revive the sick whenever they softly blow,
wafting among the branches of sweet basil.” (3)
She rewarded him with two thousand dinars. (4)
Al-Khaṭīb (5) said: “I read, in the handwriting of Ṭāhir ibn Muẓaffar ibn Ṭāhir the treasurer, some of his poetry:
‘May Allah water with the showers of dawn the quarter of Baghdad
that lies between al-Karkh, al-Khuld, and the Bridge.
She is a lovely city, singled out for her people
by blessings never gathered together in any land before.
Her air is delicate—temperate and health-giving—
and her water tastes sweeter than wine.
The Tigris flows with two banks set for us
like crown to crown, palace to palace.
You behold her like musk, her waters like silver,
and her pebbles like rubies and pearls.’
Al-Khaṭīb cites many more poems of this kind, but what we have quoted is sufficient.
The construction of Baghdad was finished in that very year—namely, 146 AH. Others say it was completed in 148 AH.