someone from the people of learning (1) who can speak to you; for al-Zuhrī said, “The science of ḥadīth is masculine: only virile men love it, and only the effeminate among them dislike it.” The son of Zuhrah spoke the truth.

Even in his grey years al-Manṣūr used to seek knowledge at its proper sources—ḥadīth and fiqh—so that he secured a fine and worthy share of both.

One day he was asked, “Commander of the Faithful, is there any delight you have not yet experienced?”
He replied, “One alone.”
They said, “And what is that?”
He answered, “For the student to say to the shaykh, ‘Whom did you mention? May Allah have mercy on you.’”

His ministers and secretaries gathered round him and said, “Let the Commander of the Faithful dictate some ḥadīth to us.”
He said, “You are not the men for it. They are the ones with soiled garments, cracked feet and long hair, wanderers of the horizons and traversers of long distances—now in Iraq, now in the Ḥijāz, now in Syria, now in Yemen. Those are the carriers of ḥadīth.”

He once said to his son al-Mahdī, “How many mounts do you have?”
He answered, “I do not know.”
Al-Manṣūr said, “That is negligence; you will be still more negligent concerning the business of the caliphate. Fear Allah, my son.”

Khalisa, one of al-Mahdī’s favored concubines, relates: “I entered one day upon al-Manṣūr while he was complaining of a toothache, both hands pressed to his temples. He said to me, ‘Khalisa, how much money do you have?’ I replied, ‘One thousand dirhams.’ He said, ‘Put your hand on my head and swear.’ I said, ‘I have ten thousand dinars.’ ‘Go,’ he said, ‘and bring them here to me.’

“I went and found my master al-Mahdī with his wife al-Khayzurān, and I told him what had happened. He nudged me with his foot and said, ‘Woe to you! He is not in pain; I asked him for money yesterday and he feigned illness. You have no choice but to do as he commands.’ So I returned to al-Manṣūr with the ten thousand dinars. He then summoned al-Mahdī and said to him, ‘You complain of want while Khalisa has all of this?’”

Al-Manṣūr said to his treasurer, “When you hear that al-Mahdī is coming, bring me my worn-out clothes before he arrives.” The treasurer brought them and set them before him. Al-Mahdī entered while al-Manṣūr was turning them over, and al-Mahdī began to laugh (2).

Al-Manṣūr said, “My son, whoever has no old clothes has no new ones. Winter is upon us, and we must help the family and the children.”
Al-Mahdī said, “I shall provide clothing for the Commander of the Faithful and his household.”
He replied, “Then do so.”

Ibn Jarīr (3) relates from al-Haytham that al-Manṣūr, in a single day, gave one million dirhams to one of his uncles, and on that same day distributed ten thousand dirhams within his own household. No caliph is known to have distributed the like in a single day.

A reciter once recited in al-Manṣūr’s presence: “Those who are miserly and enjoin miserliness on others” (Qur’an 4:37). He said, “By Allah, were it not that wealth—”