week for a single dirham and a daniq (one-sixth of a dirham), living on that meagre sum from one week to the next. He would work only on Saturday (1), then devote the remainder of the week to worship.

Some people claimed that he was Zubaydah’s son; the correct opinion, however, is that his mother was a woman whom al-Rashīd once loved and married, and by whom he fathered this youth. Al-Rashīd later sent her to Basra, presenting her with a ruby ring and other precious items and instructing her that, should the caliphate ever pass to him, she must come to him. When he did become caliph, neither she nor her son returned; instead, they disappeared. News reached him that they had died, though this was untrue. He searched for them but could learn nothing of their whereabouts.

The young man therefore earned his livelihood with his own hands, eating from the toil thereof. He eventually returned to Baghdad, working with clay for a time and living on the proceeds. Though he was the son of the Commander of the Believers, he never revealed his identity. It happened that he fell ill in the house of the man who employed him, and that man nursed him. When death approached, he produced the ring and said to his host:

“Take this to al-Rashīd and say: ‘The owner of this ring warns you: beware lest you die in your present heedlessness and then regret it when regret will be useless. Fear the moment you stand before Allah in the two abodes, and that this may be your final hour. What you now possess—had it endured for someone else—would never have reached you; it will soon pass to another. The accounts of those who preceded you have already reached you.’”

He (the narrator) said: After he died I buried him, then sought permission to appear before the caliph. When I was ushered in, he asked, “What do you need?” I replied, “A man placed this ring in my hand, ordered me to give it to you, and entrusted me with a message for you.” When he looked at it he recognised it and exclaimed, “Woe to you! Where is the owner of this ring?” I answered, “He has died, O Commander of the Believers, and he said to you, ‘Beware lest you die in your present intoxication and then regret it.’” I also informed him that the man used to labour as a common workman one day each week, earning a dirham and four daniqs—or a dirham and a daniq—on which he lived for the rest of the week, after which he devoted himself to worship.

When al-Rashīd heard this he rose, threw himself to the ground, rolled back and forth, and kept saying, “By Allah, my son, you have truly admonished me!” Then he wept, lifted his head and asked me, “Do you know his grave?” I replied, “Yes; I buried him myself.” He said, “Come to me this evening.” I did so, and he went out to the grave, where he wept until dawn. Afterwards he ordered that ten thousand dirhams be given to that man and granted him and his family a regular stipend.

[In this same year there also died] ʿAbd Allah ibn Muṣʿab (2) ibn Thābit ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām, the Qurashi of the Asad clan, father of Bakkār; they had compelled him