98 - ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ṣāliḥ al-Azdī narrated to us, Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh narrated to us, from his father, who said: Al-Ḥajjāj said to Ḥuṭayṭ, "Tell me the truth."

He said: "Ask me, for I have covenanted with God that if you are ever alone with me, I will kill you; if you torture me, I will endure patiently; and if you ask me, I will tell you the truth."

So he said, "What is your opinion regarding ʿAbd al-Malik?"

He replied: "How foolish you are! You ask me about a man of whom you are merely one of his sins, while you have filled the earth with corruption?"

He asked, "Were you ever alone with me?"

He replied: "Once, but something came between me and you and prevented me from reaching you."

He said, "It is as if I already know. As for the third, you will not endure it patiently."

He said: "Whatever God wills."

He said, "He is all yours, O Maʿadd!"

He said: So he tortured him with every kind of torture, then he came and said, "He does not care."

Al-Ḥajjāj said, "Does he have any close relative?"

They said, "A mother and a brother."

He said: So he put the press upon his mother, whereupon Ḥuṭayṭ said, "O mother, be patient, be patient!"

He said: So he killed her.