92 – Sulaymān related to me; he said: Sulaymān b. Ziyād said: The freedmen of ʿUmar b. Hubayra came and rented a house beside the prison, then tunneled an underground passage from it into the prison. They also rented another house abutting the rampart of the city wall of Wāsiṭ. When the night arrived on which they meant to escort him out, they broke through the tunnel into the prison; he slipped out through the passage, walked into the first house, and continued on foot until he reached the house that stood next to the city wall, where another opening had been made. From there he proceeded through a second passage until he emerged outside the city. Horses were waiting for him beyond the wall; he mounted, and his escape was not discovered until morning. Earlier he had pretended to be ill so that the guards would stop checking on him at every moment. Khālid then dispatched Saʿīd al-Harashī in pursuit; Saʿīd caught up with him while the Euphrates lay between them, but he took his side and let him go.

Al-Farazdaq composed:
When you saw the earth’s face shut tight,
and only its belly offered you a way out, ⦗86⦘
You called upon the One whom Jonah had invoked
after he lay in three layers of darkness, and He brought relief.
You emerged, and no intercession aided you
save that of your gracious, gentle Lord who dispels distress.
And at dawn you were beneath the earth, having traveled a night
the like of which no traveler ever made when setting out before daybreak.