77 – ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, the nephew of al-Aṣmaʿī, told me, saying: My uncle related to me, saying: Abū ʿAmr ibn al-ʿAlāʾ said, “I had fled from al-Ḥajjāj, and one day I was on a rooftop in al-Yamīn when I heard someone reciting: ⦗75⦘
[metre: al-Baḥr al-Kha fīf]
Many a soul recoils from a given affair,
Yet it holds an opening—like loosing a camel’s hobble.

He continued, ‘So I went outside, and there was a man proclaiming, “Al-Ḥajjāj has died!” I could not decide which of the two filled me with greater joy: the relief itself, or al-Ḥajjāj’s death.’”

My uncle added: “al-farjah, with a fatḥa, is derived from faraj (relief), whereas al-furjah, with a ḍamma, refers to a gap in a wall.”