51 – ʿUbayd Allah ibn Jarir al-ʿAtaki narrated to us; ʿAmr ibn Kathir Abū Ḥafṣ related to us; he said: Yaḥyā ibn Ḥammād al-Ḥaddādī told me, from a man, from the very man who had been seized, who said:

“Al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf had been pursuing him. He was brought before al-Ḥajjāj one evening, and the governor ordered that he be chained with many irons. He then instructed the guards to place him in ⦗59⦘ the rearmost of three cells, lock it upon him, and said, ‘In the morning bring him to me.’

He continued: While I was lying face-down, I heard a caller in the corner saying, ‘O So-and-so!’ I asked, ‘Who is it?’ He replied, ‘Supplicate with this prayer.’ I said, ‘With what words shall I supplicate?’ He said, ‘Say:

O You whose very essence none knows but You,
O You whose power none comprehends but You,
relieve me of the predicament I am in.’

By Allah, I had not finished it before the shackles fell from my feet. I looked and saw the doors standing open. I walked into the courtyard, and there was the great gate wide open, the guards to my right and left fast asleep. I passed out until I reached the outskirts of Wāsiṭ and remained in its mosque until daybreak.”