D. | G. | Serial. | TITLES OF THE ANECDOTES. |
Part III, Chapter VII = LVII: On the Contemptibility of Falsehood and the Advantages of Truth. | |||
f213b | f246b | 1600 | Introduction. The Caliph Abú Bakr’s exhortations against falsehood. |
” | ” | 1601 | The Caliph ‘Alí’s single counsel to a newly converted Muslim prevents him from committing a multitude of sins. |
f214a | ” | 1602 | Two Khárijite victims save themselves from the machinations of al-Ḥajjáj by virtue of their veracity. |
” | ” | 1603 | Aḥnaf b. Qays’s deliberate refusal to speak of the Caliph ‘Alí in the presence of Mu‘áwiya. |
” | ” | 1604 | al-Mustarshid the Caliph’s dying words to his son, “Oh my son! if thou desirest to be feared, then do not tell lies, for verily the liar is never feared even though he may be surrounded by a thousand swords”. |
” | ” | 1605 | Naṣr b. al-Ḥárith affronts Thábit b. Sharwán in joke, in the presence of Fadhl b. Sahl; Thábit is annoyed, and Fadhl snubs him by saying that he lost his honour the day he told him that he went on his camel from Dámghán to Níshápúr in one night — a highly improbable thing. |
D. | G. | Serial. | TITLES OF THE ANECDOTES. |
f214b | f246b | 1606 | Abú Muḥammad Kházin’s defence of poetic fiction in a literary discussion held in the Ṣáḥib Ismá‘íl b. ‘Abbád’s salon. |
” | ” | 1607 | Manṣúr, an emissary of the Caliph Hárún, pretends deafness in audience of the Byzantine King and succeeds in his mission, but incurs the grave displeasure of the Caliph for having told a lie. |
f215a | f247a | 1608 | Ḥasan of Baṣra, while persecuted by al-Ḥajjáj, takes refuge in the convent of Ḥabíb-i-‘Ajamí and is miraculously hidden from the sight of his pursuers. |
f215b | ” | 1609 | al-Faraj al-Rukhkhají, the governor of Ahwáz, averts the wrath of the Caliph Hárún by confessing what he did during the term of his office, and how little wealth he had amassed. |
” | f247b | 1610 | Yúsuf b. ‘Abdu’llah b. ‘Uthmán b. Abi’l-‘Áṣ, a refugee of Baṣra, stands firm before al-Ḥajjáj and gains his approbation. |
f216a | ” | 1611 | A trader, who was patronised at the court of the Khán of Chín, exports ten ostriches to prove the validity of his statement. |
” | ” | 1612 | Abú ‘Amr ibnu’l-‘Alá’, the famous reciter of the Qur’án, explains to his pupils the defects which disqualify a man from leadership. |
f216b | ” | 1613 | ‘Abdu’llah b. Ṭáhir rewards doubly a student of theology for his candour in confessing that his own view about the belief in God differed from that of ‘Abdu’llah and his own fellow-students. |
” | f248a | 1614 | Ṭáhir b. al-Ḥusayn liberates Zayd-i-Shujá‘, a spy of ‘Alí b. ‘Ísá b. Máhán, on account of his veracity. |
f217a | ” | 1615 | Fadhl b. Yaḥyá, the Barmecide, challenges the anticipation of Naṣr, the poet, about the divorce which Fadhl was planning, but afterwards admits he was right and rewards him. |
” | ” | 1616 | Khálid, the Barmecide, perjures himself in the hope of causing ‘Alí b. ‘Ísá b. Músá to withdraw his claim to the Caliphate in favour of al-Mahdí, upon which al-Múriyání, his rival, works upon al-Manṣúr and brings him to disgrace. |
f217b | f248b | 1617 | Abu’l-Ḥusayn b. Rabí‘a b. Aḥmad al-Jámí (?), the poet, is disgraced by Qábús b. Washmgír because he pretended to remember 5000 lines of al-Ma’mún’s poetry, but when challenged could not produce more than fourteen verses. |
f218a | ” | 1618 | Ḥasan b. al-Qaḥṭaba relates the story of the accusation of al-Mahdí against Isḥáq for his pretensions to the Caliphate, and how he wanted Ya‘qúb b. Dá’úd, the courtier, to corroborate his statement, which the latter denied, reminding the Caliph how the suspicion arose in his mind. |
The chapter ends with a eulogy on the Wazír. |