a woman could ever give birth to your like (1).

The more widely accepted report is that it was Muḥammad (2)—al-Farrāʾ’s maternal cousin (3)—who put that question to him.

Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā al-Ṣūlī said that al-Farrāʾ died in the year 207 AH (4).

Al-Khaṭīb (5) records that his death took place in Baghdad, though another view holds that it occurred on the road to Mecca. Scholars praised him and spoke well of his writings.

Then came the year 208 AH.

In that year al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn Muṣʿab, the brother of Ṭāhir, fled from Khurāsān to Kirmān and there declared his defiance. Aḥmad ibn Abī Khālid marched against him, besieged him until he surrendered by force, and brought him to al-Maʾmūn, who pardoned him; the Caliph approved of Aḥmad’s handling of the matter (6).

That same year Muḥammad ibn Samāʿah requested to be relieved of the judiciary. Al-Maʾmūn granted his request and appointed in his place Ismāʿīl ibn Ḥammād ibn Abī Ḥanīfah (7).

Also in this year al-Maʾmūn appointed Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Makhzūmī as judge at ʿAskar al-Mahdī in Muḥarram, but soon dismissed him and in Rabīʿ al-Awwal installed Bishr ibn al-Walīd al-Kindī (8)(9). Concerning this, al-Makhzūmī said (10):

O (11) king who affirms his Lord’s oneness,
Your judge Bishr ibn al-Walīd is but a donkey;
He disqualifies the testimony of those who adhere to what
The Book proclaims and the reports convey (12).