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fortune, wealth and energy characterised his reign. The character of his
brother makes these characteristics of Ya'qub all the more obvious. When 'Amr ascended the throne, he sent one of his confidants to Baghdad with a considerable sum of money to buy crystal vessels. This person had heard what had transpired between Ya'qub and Muhammad. He did not feel like spending gold upon crystal cups, vessels, basins and jars. He instead had gold cups, basins, and jars cast and presented them to 'Amr. 'Amr felt offended on having had his command violated. He, therefore, ordered the man to be given wine in one of the cups brought by him (from Baghdad) as was done in offering esteem. The cup-bearer was commanded, at the same time, to put a live poisonous snake at the bottom of the cup. Such a snake has the habit of jumping to bite. The snake bit the confidant on the tip of the nose, and he died there and then. 'Amr's reign was not prosperous like that of Ya'qub's and was on the decline. But wealth and adversity had shown him the way to waste his wealth. When he was being taken to Baghdad as a captive, he passed a bridge in Khurasan. 'Amr began to laugh inordinately. One of his fellow-prisoners enquired from him the reason for this outburst. 'Amr replied: I have passed through this bridge thrice. Once I was crossing it with
my ass laden with brass. The ass tripped, and I could not lift it alone. The fall of the ass impeded the path for the others. No one passed this way and I could not request anyone's help, and the day was about to end. Next time I crossed this bridge with fifty thousand horse-riders. And now that 1 am traversing it the third time, we are sitting in a canopied litter. I wish to be restored to the first state. We beg the Assitance of God. I had a crystal ball which housed an Indian spikenard. Some of its
rhizome fibres had detached themselves and had dispersed in it. I had another similar ball of crystal. It housed green leaves which still retained their original state, just as the spikenard (rhizome) had kept its dusty colour. Quite obviously these things were found in the crystal when it was
torrential and had greater tenuity and finer essence than pure water. Were this not so, these things could not have been submerged into it, as they float upon water because of their lightness. It is quite probable too that the flowing crystal wafted these things (like water) and then became transformed suddenly into crystal. God has far greater knowledge. What do we know of these things? A person who saw crystal-cutters in Basrah says that they find that
crystal pieces have grass, wood, gravel, earth and air-bubbles in them. All this testifies to the fact that the crystal in its pristine state was a liquid in motion. This should n'ot come as a surprise as we find things in |
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