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' Ali bin Msa who had returned from Makka where he had been exiled
after being forced to relinquish his ministership, happened to meet Muqtadir one day. During their discourse, the conversation turned to the dining set which Muqtadir had bought for 30,000 dinars from Ibn Jassas. When 'Ali enquired about it, Muqtadir bi-Allah said it was kept in the treasury. 'Ali asked it be shown to him. Muqtadir on enquiry could not locate it. •AIT took out (a jewel) from his sleeve, and said: ''This was purchased by me in Egypt, if this is the state of affairs with regard to jewels, may God save other things." Muqtadir felt the negligence and accused the chief storekeeper, Zaydan. The mother of Muqtadir was proverbial for her miserliness. We will
give an account of his mother later. Sadiq said [in his verse about ununworthy among women ] : May God so will that the world would come to an end when unworthy ones become rulers.
Good-bye to the world if for a single day they rule the world,
if you wish this adage of Sadiq to be verified, look at Zubaydah who among women possessed great virtues and qualities of nobility. Her rosary, however, was made of the rummanian ruby, its beads being large like nuts with melon-like streaks running through them. If people see a ruby of that kind, they remark that it is like Zubaydah's stone. She had her pearls drilled so that her maidservants might wear robes strung from them. Stories about her pet monkey, its death, funeral prayers, and elegies (moving the queen and her entourage to fits of weeping) are all fantasies. We will not narrate these stories out of reverence for her. How can any one after Zubaydah be trusted, especially the one who is not worthy of the dust of her feet? The ('Abbasid) Caliphs before Muqtadir also made inroads upon
jewels but not to such an extent that they would exhaust them and be held reprehensible. Harun al-Rashid had a maidservant who was peerless in beauty. When Harun al-Rashid used to present gifts to the maidservants she used to return them. Harun was annoyed by her attitude. One day, it is related that Harun gave precious jewels to the maidservants. All of them accepted them except this particular maid. Harun sent for more jewels, and asked each maid to take the jewels she fancied. All of them picked the jewels of their choice. This maid, however, did not. Harun at last enquired why she did not make her choice. The maid replied: "Your Majesty, if it is necessary to do so, I shall." This said, she stood up, advanced further, and, clasping Harun's hand, said: "Of the worldly jewels, this is the jewel I have picked." Harun was greatly moved and he christened her Khalisah. From that day he lavished the largest number of gifts upon her. Abu Nuwas went unrewarded by Harun for a long time. He composed the following couplet: |
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