16
Abu Adnān narrated to me; he said: Abu ʿUbaydah Maʿmar b. al-Muthannā related to me from Yūnus b. Ḥabīb, who said: Abu ʿAmr b. al-ʿAlāʾ told me, “We had fled from al-Ḥajjāj and were hiding in Ṣanʿāʾ when I heard a poet reciting ⦗90⦘:
Many a thing the heart abhors,
Yet in it lies relief—like the untying of a hobble.
I was struck by his use of the word ‘relief’. While I was still mulling it over, someone suddenly cried out, ‘Al-Ḥajjāj is dead!’ I do not know which of the two gladdened me more: the death of al-Ḥajjāj, or that verse.”
حَدَّثَنِي أَبُو عَدْنَانَ، قَالَ: حَدَّثَنِي أَبُو عُبَيْدَةَ مَعْمَرُ بْنُ الْمُثَنَّى، عَنْ يُونُسَ بْنِ حَبِيبٍ، قَالَ: قَالَ لِي أَبُو عَمْرِو بْنُ الْعَلَاءِ: كُنَّا هُرَّابًا مِنَ الْحَجَّاجِ بِصَنْعَاءَ، فَسَمِعْتُ مُنْشِدًا، يُنْشِدُ: ⦗٩٠⦘
رُبَّمَا تَكْرَهُ النُّفُوسَ مِنَ الْأَمْـ ... ـرِ لَهُ فَرْجَةٌ كَحَلِّ الْعِقَالِ
فَاسْتَظْرَفْتُ قَوْلَهُ: فَرْجَةٌ، فَإِنِّي لَكَذَلِكَ إِذْ سَمِعْتُ قَائِلًا يَقُولُ: مَاتَ الْحَجَّاجُ، فَمَا أَدْرِي لِأَيِّ الْأَمْرَيْنِ كُنْتُ أَشَدَّ فَرَحًا، بِمَوْتِ الْحَجَّاجِ أَوْ بِذَلِكَ الْبَيْتِ؟