So he asked Yaḥyā ibn Khālid to cede her to him; Yaḥyā obliged, and she soon enjoyed great favor in his eyes. She stayed with him for three years and then died. He mourned her intensely and composed elegies for her, among which he said:
I spoke when they laid you beneath the dust
And longing churned restlessly within my breast:
Go now and meet Allah—for after you
Nothing in this world will gladden me again. (1)
Al-ʿAbbās ibn al-Aḥnaf also lamented her death:
O she whose passing gladdened the very graves—
Time, intent on hurting me, hurled its blow at you.
I seek a companion, yet find none for myself
Save wandering the places where I used to see you.
A king has wept for you, and long is his sorrow after you;
Could he ransom you with his kingdom, he would have done so.
He now guards his heart from all other women,
Lest anyone but you should enter its sanctuary. (2)
He (al-ʿAbbās) recited these lines, and al-Rashīd ordered that he be given forty thousand—ten thousand for each verse. Allah knows best.
[The year 174 AH]
That year factional strife broke out in Syria and its people were thrown into turmoil. In the same year al-Rashīd appointed Yūsuf ibn Abī Yūsuf as judge while his father was still living. That year ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Ṣāliḥ led the summer campaign and entered Byzantine territory. Al-Rashīd also performed the ḥajj: when he drew near to Mecca he was informed that an epidemic was raging there, so he did not enter the city until the time for standing at ʿArafah. He stood there, then proceeded to Muzdalifah, then to Minā, after which he entered Mecca, circumambulated the Kaʿbah and performed the saʿy. He then departed without staying in the city.
[The year 175 AH]
In this year al-Rashīd secured the oath of allegiance for the succession after him to his son Muḥammad ibn Zubaydah, naming him al-Amīn, who was then five years old. Concerning this Salm al-Khāsir said:
Allah has guided the Caliph when he built
The house of the caliphate for the fair-skinned youth;
He is Caliph in place of his father and grandfather—
Both bear witness to his appearance and his worth.
Both realms of beings pledged allegiance, in the cradle of guidance,
To Muḥammad, son of Zubaydah, daughter of Jaʿfar. (3)