the standing before the Compeller, and the halt between Paradise and Hell—on the Day when the throat is seized, the foot slips, and remorse descends; when no repentance will be accepted, no stumble excused, and no ransom in wealth received. At this al-Rashīd began to weep until his sobs grew loud.
Yaḥyā ibn Khālid said to Ibn al-Sammāk, “Son of al-Sammāk, you have burdened the Commander of the Faithful this night.” Ibn al-Sammāk then rose and left him, himself in tears.
Al-Fuḍayl ibn ʿIyāḍ once addressed al-Rashīd at length in Mecca, saying, “O fair-faced man, you will be held accountable for all of these people. Allah, Exalted is He, has said: ‘and all the bonds between them will be cut off’ ⦗2:166⦘.”
He went on: “Layth related to us from Mujāhid that he said: those bonds are the connections they had formed in this world.” Whereupon al-Rashīd wept until he was gasping.
Al-Fuḍayl continued: “One day al-Rashīd summoned me after adorning his palaces and laying out abundant food, drink, and pleasures. He then called for Abū al-ʿAtāhiyah and said, ‘Describe to us the life of ease and luxury we are enjoying.’ So he recited:
Live as you wish, unharmed,
beneath the shade of towering palaces;
Each craving of yours hastens to serve you
from the break of dawn to nightfall.
Yet when the souls rattle in the throats,
choked by the narrowness of the chest,
Only then will you know for certain
that you lived in nothing but delusion. (3)
Al-Rashīd wept profusely and bitterly. Al-Faḍl ibn Yaḥyā said to the poet, “The Commander of the Faithful invited you to gladden him, yet you have saddened him!” Al-Rashīd replied, “Leave him; he has seen us blind and disliked to make us blinder.”
On another occasion al-Rashīd said to Abū al-ʿAtāhiyah, “Admonish me in a few concise verses.” He recited:
Do not feel secure from death for a blink or a breath,
though you be guarded by chamberlains and sentries;
Know that death’s arrows never miss the mark—
they strike the mail-clad and shield-bearer alike;
You yearn for salvation yet do not tread its paths—
a ship will never sail upon dry land. (4)
Al-Rashīd then collapsed unconscious.
On one occasion the caliph imprisoned Abū al-ʿAtāhiyah and set watchmen to report whatever he might say. The poet once wrote upon the prison wall: