128 - Ibrāhīm ibn Saʿīd narrated to me, saying: Muḥammad ibn Ḥumayd narrated to us, saying: Yaʿqūb al-Qummī narrated to us, from Jaʿfar—meaning Ibn Abī al-Mughīra—who said: Saʿīd ibn Masjūḥ and Ḥuṭayṭ al-Zayyāt set out for Mecca. When they reached Dhāt ʿIrq, Saʿīd ibn Masjūḥ said to Ḥuṭayṭ: "O Ḥuṭayṭ, I think these people have set up watchposts for us. What if we detour to al-Baṣra?" Ḥuṭayṭ said to him: “As for me, I shall press on.” So Saʿīd went on to al-Baṣra, while Ḥuṭayṭ returned and was taken by the watchposts. [al-Ḥajjāj] said: "Well then?" [Ḥuṭayṭ] said: "I made a covenant with my Lord three times at the Kaʿba: if I am asked, I shall speak the truth; if I am tested, I shall endure with patience; and if I am spared, I shall be thankful." He said: "Tell me about myself." He said: “I tell you that you are one of the enemies of God on earth: you dispatch armies and execute souls on mere suspicion.” And he mentioned his evil deeds. He said: "Tell me about the Caliph." He said: “I tell you that he is of even greater crime than you, and you are merely a spark of him.” Then he mentioned as many of his evil deeds as he wished to mention. [al-Ḥajjāj] said: "Torment him incessantly." So they tormented him incessantly, until at the end of that, he said: "Split reeds for him." So they pressed them onto his back and then tore off his flesh, until they left him at his last breath. They said to al-Ḥajjāj: "This man is at his last breath." He said: "Throw him out." So they threw him into the open plaza. Jaʿfar said: I reached him, and there were people—I think they were brothers or acquaintances of his. One of them said to him: "O Ḥuṭayṭ, do you have any need, or do you desire anything?" He said: “A drink.” So a drink was brought to him—I do not know whether it was pomegranate-seed porridge or water—and he drank it, and then passed away.