29 – Al-Zubayr ibn Abī Bakr—within the material he authorized me to relate—said: My brother ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Bakr told me, and he said: ʿAbbās ibn Abī Bakr ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Bakr al-Ṣiddīq told me:

Umar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz once held a horse race in Medina. Among the contestants was a horse owned by Muḥammad ibn Ṭalḥah ibn ʿUbayd Allāh and another owned by a man from the Jaʿdī tribe. When the horses came into view, the Jaʿdī’s mount was in the lead, so the Jaʿdī cried out in rajaz verse at the top of his voice:

“A summit of glory has been raised—O who would scale it!
We are the ones who seized it, for we are its rightful folk;
Even if you loosed the birds, we would arrive before them.”

Not long after, Muḥammad ibn Ṭalḥah’s horse caught up, passed it, and crossed the line first. Umar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz then said to the Jaʿdī, “By Allah, the son of al-Sabbāq has outstripped you in reaching the good deeds.”