That very year in which Hārūn al-Rashīd made the ḥajj, the vizier Yaḥyā ibn Khālid also performed the pilgrimage, already sensing the caliph’s wrath toward him. At the Kaʿbah he stood in supplication, saying:
“O Allah, if it pleases You with regard to me that all my wealth, my children and my family be taken away, then do so, but leave al-Faḍl to me.”
He then departed; yet when he reached the gate of the mosque he turned back and added,
“O Allah—and al-Faḍl along with them—for I am content with Your good pleasure toward me; exempt none of them.”

When al-Rashīd completed the pilgrimage he went on to al-Ḥīrah, then embarked by boat for al-Ghamr in the district of al-Anbār. On the eve of Saturday, the last night of Muḥarram that year, he dispatched Masrūr the chamberlain together with Jammād ibn Sālim Abū ʿIṣmah and a detachment of troops. They surrounded Jaʿfar ibn Yaḥyā’s house at night, and Masrūr entered while Jaʿfar was sitting at his ease with Bukhtīshūʿ the physician and Abū Zakkār (1), the blind minstrel from Kalwadhā. Abū Zakkār was singing:
“Do not go far, for every youth shall one day
Be met by death, knocking at night or in the morning.” (2)

Masrūr said to him, “Abū al-Faḍl, death has indeed knocked; answer the summons of the Commander of the Faithful.” Jaʿfar stood, kissed his feet, and begged leave to enter his house in order to make his bequests and bid his family farewell. Masrūr replied, “Entrance is out of the question—make your will here.” Jaʿfar dictated his testament and manumitted all of his slaves, or a number of them. Envoys from al-Rashīd kept urging haste, so he was dragged out roughly. They led him to the residence where al-Rashīd was, confined him, and shackled him with a donkey-shackle. When they informed the caliph of what had transpired, he ordered that Jaʿfar’s head be struck off.

The executioner came to Jaʿfar and said, “The Commander of the Faithful has commanded me to bring him your head.” Jaʿfar replied, “Abū Hāshim, perhaps the Commander of the Faithful is drunk; when he sobers up he will reproach you because of me.” The man returned to al-Rashīd and reported, “He says, ‘Perhaps you are preoccupied.’” The caliph cried, “You clitoris-sucker—bring me his head!” Jaʿfar repeated his plea once more, whereupon al-Rashīd said for the third time, “May I be absolved of al-Mahdī—if you do not bring me his head I will send someone for both your head and his!”

The executioner went back to Jaʿfar, severed his head, and carried it to al-Rashīd, casting it before him. That very night the caliph sent dispatches ordering the seizure of every member of the Barmakid family in Baghdad and elsewhere, anyone connected with them. All of them were apprehended; not a single one escaped. Yaḥyā ibn Khālid was held under house arrest, while al-Faḍl ibn Yaḥyā was confined in another residence, and everything they possessed in this world was confiscated. Al-Rashīd sent Jaʿfar’s head and body to Baghdad: the head was impaled at the Upper Bridge, the body was sawn in two, one half set up at the Lower Bridge and the other at the second bridge, after which it was burned.

A proclamation was made in Baghdad: “There is no safety for the Barmakids, nor for anyone who shelters them, except Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā ibn Khālid—he alone is exempt, for the sincerity of his counsel to the caliph.”

Anas ibn Abī Shaykh, who was suspected of zandaqa and had been Jaʿfar’s companion, was then brought before al-Rashīd. An exchange took place between them, after which he was led away