the very dust beneath him. On one occasion I dined in his presence; when I rose to wash my hands, someone poured the water over them, yet I could not see who it was. He then said, “Abū Muʿāwiyah, do you know who is pouring the water for you?”
I replied, “No.”
He said, “The Commander of the Faithful is the one pouring it.”
Abū Muʿāwiyah adds: “So I supplicated for him, and he said, ‘I only meant to honor knowledge.’

Another day Abū Muʿāwiyah narrated to him—through al-Aʿmash, from Abū Ṣāliḥ, from Abū Hurayrah—the ḥadīth about the debate between Adam and Moses. Al-Rashīd’s uncle remarked, “Where did they meet, O Abū Muʿāwiyah?”
Al-Rashīd flew into a towering rage and said, “Are you objecting to a ḥadīth? Bring the niṭʿ and the sword!” They were brought, and the people rose to intercede for him.
Al-Rashīd said, “This is heresy.” He ordered him imprisoned and swore that he would not be released until he told me who had implanted this notion in him. The uncle swore solemn oaths that no one had said it to him; “the words simply slipped from my tongue, and I seek Allah’s forgiveness and repent to Him for them.” So al-Rashīd set him free.

Someone related: “I entered upon al-Rashīd while a man lay before him, his head already struck off, and the executioner was wiping his sword on the dead man’s nape. Al-Rashīd said, ‘I killed him because he claimed that the Quran is created. I killed him as a devotional act for the sake of Allah—may He be exalted.’ ”

Some scholars said to him, “O Commander of the Faithful, look after those who love Abū Bakr and ʿUmar and give them precedence; honor them by the might of your authority.”
He replied, “And am I not already like that? By Allah, I am. I love them both, I love whoever loves them, and I punish whoever hates them.”

Ibn al-Sammāk said to him, “O Commander of the Faithful, Allah has placed none of these people above you; therefore (1) none of them should be more obedient to Allah than you.”
Al-Rashīd answered, “Your words may have been few, but your admonition was eloquent.”

Al-Fuḍayl ibn ʿIyāḍ—or someone else—told him, “Allah has not set anyone above you in this world, so strive that no one surpasses you in the Hereafter. Labor for yourself and put it to work in obedience to your Lord.”

On another day Ibn al-Sammāk came in while al-Rashīd asked for water. A jug filled with cool water was brought, and al-Rashīd said to Ibn al-Sammāk, “Admonish me.”
He said, “O Commander of the Faithful, how much would you pay for this drink if you were denied it?”
He replied, “Half of my kingdom.”
He said, “Then drink in good health.” When he had drunk, Ibn al-Sammāk said, “Suppose you were unable to pass it out of your body—how much would you pay for that?”
He said, “The other half of my kingdom.”
He said, “A dominion whose half is worth a drink of water and whose other half is worth a single voiding of urine is surely not something over which people should vie.” Hārūn wept.

Ibn Qutaybah relates: “Al-Rayyāshī told us—I heard al-Aṣmaʿī say: I entered upon al-Rashīd while he was trimming his nails on a Friday. I remarked on it, and he said, ‘Clipping the nails on Thursday is part of the sunnah, but I have been told that clipping them on Friday wards off poverty.’
I said, ‘O Commander of the Faithful, do you fear poverty?’
He replied, ‘O Aṣmaʿī, who fears poverty more than I?’ ”