Hārūn al-Rashīd:
– You have recited this poem to us in order to take this ring from our hand, he said. Then he gave the ring to Mufaḍḍal.
However, Hārūn al-Rashīd’s wife Zubayda sent word to Mufaḍḍal, paid 1,600 dinars, and bought the ring, sending it to Hārūn al-Rashīd. Then she said to Hārūn: “I did this because I saw that you liked this ring.” But Hārūn al-Rashīd returned both the ring and the dinars to Mufaḍḍal, saying: “We do not take back what we have given as a gift.”
One day, Hārūn al-Rashīd asked ʿAbbās b. Aḥnaf the following question:
– Which is the most beautiful couplet spoken by the Arabs?
– It is this couplet that the poet Jamīl composed about his beloved Buthayna:
“If only I were blind and deaf, and Buthayna would guide me; thus, none of her words would ever be hidden from me.”
– Your poem is more beautiful than Jamīl’s:
“Love wandered among all the servants of Allah; at last, it came and settled in me.”
– O Commander of the Faithful, your poem is more beautiful than mine:
“Though all people are my servants, is it not enough for you that you possess me?”