Ibn ʿAsākir (1) reports, on the authority of Ibrāhīm al-Mahdī, who said:

“One day I was with Hārūn al-Rashīd. He summoned his cook and asked, ‘Do you have any camel meat among today’s dishes?’
‘Yes, several varieties,’ the cook replied.
‘Then bring it with the food,’ he said.

When the meal was set before him, the caliph picked up a morsel of the camel meat and raised it to his mouth, whereupon Jaʿfar al-Barmakī burst out laughing. Al-Rashīd stopped chewing, turned to him and said, ‘What are you laughing at?’
‘Nothing, O Commander of the Faithful,’ Jaʿfar answered. ‘I merely recalled something my slave-girl and I said to one another last night.’
‘I adjure you, by my right over you, to tell me,’ the caliph insisted.
‘After you swallow that bite,’ Jaʿfar pleaded.
Al-Rashīd spat it out and said, ‘By Allah, you will tell me now!’

Jaʿfar said, ‘O Commander of the Faithful, what price do you think this portion of camel meat is costing you?’
‘Four dirhams,’ the caliph replied.
‘No, by Allah, O Commander of the Faithful—rather, 400,000 dirhams.’
‘How is that?’
‘Long ago you once asked your cook for camel meat, but none was available. You said, “The caliphal kitchen must never be without camel meat.” Ever since, we have slaughtered a camel every day for the Commander of the Faithful, for we never buy camel meat in the market. From that day until today 400,000 dirhams have been spent on camel meat, though you have not asked for it again until now.’

Jaʿfar went on, ‘So I laughed because all the Commander of the Faithful has actually tasted of that expenditure is this one mouthful—and it has cost him 400,000.’

Hearing this, Hārūn al-Rashīd wept bitterly and ordered the simāṭ (tablecloths) to be removed. He turned on his own soul, rebuking it and saying, ‘By Allah, Hārūn, you are ruined!’ He continued weeping until the callers announced the ẓuhr prayer. He went out, led the people in prayer, then returned and kept weeping until the callers announced the ʿaṣr prayer.

In the meantime he ordered that 2,000,000 dirhams be distributed to the poor of the Two Sanctuaries—1,000,000 to each—and another 2,000,000 in charity to the needy on both the western and eastern banks of Baghdad, as well as 1,000,000 to the poor of Kūfa and Basra. After performing the ʿaṣr prayer he came back weeping until he had performed the maghrib prayer, then returned once more.

The chief judge, Abū Yūsuf, entered and asked, ‘Why have you been weeping today, O Commander of the Faithful?’ The caliph told him what had happened and how a vast sum had been spent merely to satisfy his appetite, though he had taken only a single bite.

Abū Yūsuf turned to Jaʿfar and asked, ‘Did the camels you slaughtered spoil, or did people eat them?’
‘People ate them,’ Jaʿfar replied.
‘Then rejoice, O Commander of the Faithful,’ said Abū Yūsuf, ‘in the reward Allah has stored up for the money spent on food that Muslims have already eaten, for what He has enabled you to give in alms today, and for the fear of Him that He has placed in your heart this very day. Allah—exalted be He—has said: “But for the one who fears standing before his Lord, there shall be two gardens” (Surah al-Raḥmān 46).’

Al-Rashīd thereupon ordered that Abū Yūsuf be given 400,000 dirhams. He then had some food brought and ate from it, so that his midday meal on that day served as his supper.

ʿAmr ibn Baḥr al-Jāḥiẓ said: ‘Earnestness and mirth were combined for al-Rashīd as for no one after him. Abū Yūsuf was his judge; the Banū Baramakah were his viziers; his chamberlain was al-Faḍl ibn al-Rabīʿ—one of the most eminent and imposing of men—and his boon companion was his uncle…’