He asked, ‘What do you say about a pilgrim in ihrām who killed game?’

He—peace be upon him—replied (1), ‘Did he kill it outside the Sacred Precinct or within it, knowingly or in ignorance (2)? Was this his first offense or had he done it before? Was the game small or large (3)? Was the pilgrim in ihrām a slave or free, a minor or an adult? Was the game a bird or something else?’

Yahyā ibn Aktham was confounded, and his helplessness showed on his face, until a number of those present realized his predicament. Then (4) al-Ma’mūn said to his family, ‘Now you know what you had been denying.’

Then he turned to the Imam and said (5), ‘Do you seek her hand in marriage?’

He replied, ‘Yes.’

He said, ‘Deliver your own marriage sermon.’ He delivered the sermon and concluded the marriage contract for a dowry of five hundred good-quality dirhams (6), equal to the dowry of [his grandmother] Fātima (7)—peace be upon her. He then married her.”

The answer is as follows:

Indeed, (8) Muhammad ibn Alī al-Jawād was among the distinguished members of Banū Hāshim and was renowned for generosity and eminence. This is why he was called al-Jawād. He died young, at twenty-five years of age. He was born in 195 AH and died in 220 AH, or in the year