154 – ʿAbd Allah narrated to us; he said: Muḥammad ibn ʿAbbād ibn Mūsā narrated to me; he said: ʿUbayd ibn Yūnus ibn Bukayr narrated to us; he said: Muṣʿab ibn Salām narrated to us; he said: Abū Ḥāritha, the keeper of the public treasury, reported:

Abū Jaʿfar al-Manṣūr appointed al-Mufaḍḍal ibn Bilāl ibn Mālik al-Ghanawī over the district of Barusmā. When al-Mufaḍḍal had completed his assignment he returned and entered upon the Caliph. Abū Jaʿfar said, “I made you a partner in my trust, yet you betrayed me. You and I are like the rescuer of Umm ʿĀmir.”

Al-Mufaḍḍal replied, “Commander of the Faithful, who is the rescuer of Umm ʿĀmir?” So Abū Jaʿfar related the tale to him.

Al-Mufaḍḍal protested, “By Allah, Commander of the Faithful, I have not betrayed you of a single dinār or dirham. The only thing I have taken is this pack-saddle. I thought I would hire it out so that I might return to my family in the same state as when I left you.”

Abū Jaʿfar said, “Bring it here—we have more right to it than you.”