55 – Abū Naṣr the tutor narrated to me, from Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Ṭāʾī. He said: Abū Saʿīd the grocer informed us:

“I was being held in al-Ḥajjāj’s dungeon, and Ibrāhīm al-Taymī was imprisoned along with us. One night he slept in the cell, so I asked him, ‘Abū Asmāʾ, what have you been jailed for?’ He replied, ‘The district officer came, disowned me, and said, “This man prays and fasts a great deal, and I fear he may hold the views of the Khārijites.”’

“By Allah, we were chatting at sunset with Ibrāhīm al-Taymī when a man was suddenly ushered into the prison. We said, ‘Servant of Allah, what is your story, why have you been brought here?’ He answered, ‘By Allah, I do not really know. I only suppose I was arrested on suspicion of Khārijite opinions. Yet—by Allah!—it is a doctrine I have never espoused, desired, loved, nor have I ever loved its adherents. O people, fetch me water for wuḍūʾ (ablution).’

“We brought him some water; he performed ablution, then stood and prayed four rakaʿāt. After that he supplicated:

‘O Allah, You know—in spite of my offences, my injustice, and my excesses—that I have never ascribed to You a child, nor a partner, nor a consort, nor an equal. If You punish me, I am still Your servant; and if You forgive me, indeed You are the All-Mighty, the All-Wise.

‘O Allah, I ask You—O You whom questions do not confound, O You whom one hearing does not distract from another, O You whom the insistence of the insistent does not weary—to grant me in this very hour relief and a way out: from where I expect and from where ⦗62⦘ I do not expect, from what I know and from what I do not know, from where I hope and from where I do not hope. Seize the heart of Your servant al-Ḥajjāj, together with his hearing, his sight, his tongue, his hand, and his foot, until You release me in this very hour, for his heart and his forelock are in Your hand. O Lord, O Lord, O Lord!’

“He kept repeating this. By Allah, besides whom there is no god, he had not yet finished his supplication when the prison door was struck and a voice called, ‘Where is so-and-so?’ Our companion rose and said, ‘People, if wellbeing awaits me, by Allah I shall never abandon supplication; and if the other fate befalls, may Allah gather us and you together in His mercy.’ The next morning we learned that he had been set free.”