you will go back to your cell and remain there until Allah grants you a way out. Should I die, you will have saved yourself. I do not even wish you to swear an oath to me.”

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān replied, “I accept that.”

He then slipped out in disguise, dressing in women’s clothes and walking between two women so as not to be recognized. As they went along, a man riding a mule came up to them. When he drew level, he greeted them saying, “Peace be upon you,” dismounted, and added, “Mount up—may Allah have mercy on you.”

One of the two women answered, “We are only women who have come out to take care of something. Ride your animal—may Allah have mercy on you.”

He said, “There is no deity but Allah; I am not watching you.”

When ʿAbd al-Raḥmān sensed that the man had become suspicious, he mounted again and rode off to his house.

Not long afterward, the Syrian jailer died. We kept the mule under observation for a whole year, yet we never found anyone who knew to whom it belonged.