2102 – ʿAbdullah narrated to us; Ahmad told me; Hāshim ibn Kulayb narrated to us; Ismāʿīl ibn Ḥammād ibn Abī Sulaymān reported:

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Aswad had once been entrusted with a sum of money. Al-Ḥajjāj later demanded that man’s property, and someone told him, “ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Aswad is keeping a deposit for him.” Al-Ḥajjāj therefore wrote to the governor of Kūfah ordering him to send ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, and so he was brought in.

When ʿAbd al-Raḥmān entered upon al-Ḥajjāj, the latter asked, “Are you ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Aswad?” He replied, “I can hardly imagine that the governor has summoned me without already knowing my name.” Al-Ḥajjāj said, “Indeed.”

He then inquired, “What belongs to so-and-so is in your keeping?”

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān answered, “I have two pouches of silver coins.”

Al-Ḥajjāj pressed him, “Do you have anything else of his?”

He replied, “No.”

Al-Ḥajjāj swore, “By Allah—there is no deity but Him, the Knower of the unseen and the seen—do you possess nothing of his except those two pouches?”

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān said, “I praise my Lord; I have not lied to the governor.”

(The narrator adds: This—‘I praise my Lord’—was the oath he used whenever he intended to swear.)

He reiterated, “It is exactly as I have told the governor: he has nothing with me other than those two pouches.”

Al-Ḥajjāj retorted, “That is unacceptable from you. Take him to prison!” So he was incarcerated.

The prison was overseen by an ascetic worshipper from Syria. The warden observed in ʿAbd al-Raḥmān something he had never witnessed before: if it was a time for prayer, he would be standing in constant prayer; and if it was a time when no prayer was due, he would withdraw alone, glorifying, magnifying, and remembering Allah—may He be exalted.

Soon afterward the Syrian fell ill and said, “What shall I say to my Lord—exalted is He—when I meet Him and this righteous man is confined here? I do not know; perhaps he has been wronged.” He therefore sent for ʿAbd al-Raḥmān and said, “You know what al-Ḥajjāj is like. I will set you free on the condition that you promise me: if Allah—exalted is He—cures me of this illness, then …"