He abandoned his plan and set out for Baghdad, intending to enter the city (1) that very year (2). The Caliph wrote to dissuade him, pointing to the shortage of provisions there, but he would not listen and pressed on. When his arrival became imminent, the Caliph left his residence and moved to the western quarter, something that weighed heavily on him and on the populace (3).

When ʿĪd al-Aḍḥā came, the Caliph himself delivered an exceptionally powerful, eloquent sermon to the people. The preachers of the congregational mosques proclaimed the takbīr behind him, and the day was one long remembered. Ibn al-Jawzī reproduced the sermon in full in al-Muntaẓam (4), transmitting it from those who were present with the Caliph, among them the Chief Judge Abū al-Qāsim al-Zaynabī and a number of accredited witnesses.

When (5) the Caliph was about to descend from the pulpit, Abū al-Muẓaffar Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz (6) al-Hāshimī hastened forward and recited:

[from the ṭawīl metre]

Upon you be Allah’s peace, O best of those who have ascended
— a pulpit round whose banners victory is arrayed (7).

The finest of leaders, guiding all mankind and embracing them
with your gracious conduct; to you belongs command.

A sermon from you has delighted our ears (8),
a decisive admonition (9) before which even rock would soften.

You filled every heart with awe;
from the dread it inspired, Egypt itself quaked.

Its phrasing soared in excellence above every speaker,
its lofty summit too exalted for words to compass (10).

You raised the stature of the pulpits to such a height
that the bright stars themselves fall short of reaching it.

You added for ʿAdnān an ancient, inherited glory;
through you she now boasts among mankind (11) — through you the pride is hers (12).