175 - Thābit ibn Aḥmad al-Khuzāʿī narrated to us, my father narrated to us, Sulaymān ibn Ṣāliḥ narrated to us, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ḥafṣ narrated to me, from Abū al-Ṣaydāʾ, who said: Al-Ḥajjāj sent for Ḥuṭayṭ, having heard that he used to say: “O Allah, I covenant with You that if You give me, I will surely give thanks; and if You afflict me, I will surely be patient.” So he questioned him, and he spoke truthfully to him. He did not ask him about anything except that he spoke truthfully to him, while al-Ḥajjāj was prodding him with his stick. So Ḥuṭayṭ said to him: “Keep your hands off me, otherwise I will covenant with Allah that I will not speak a word to you until I meet Him.” He said: But al-Ḥajjāj insisted on tormenting him, so Ḥuṭayṭ fell silent. Al-Ḥajjāj tried to get him to speak, but he refused. So al-Ḥajjāj called the chief of torture and ordered him to place him upon 'al-Ashqar'. 'Al-Ashqar' was a rope made of palm-fiber stretched between two pillars, upon which a man would be placed, exposing his private parts to it, being dragged back and forth on it while men handled him. This was done to him for days; whenever that area became wounded, they repeated it on him. When he was dragged back and forth on it, he would say: “{Indeed, mankind was created anxious: when evil touches him, impatient; and when good touches him, withholding—except those who pray} [al-Maʿārij: 19–22]”, stretching out his voice at His statement: {except those who pray} [al-Maʿārij: 22], elongating it, and uttering not a word until the torture was lifted from him. He remained in that state until the rope broke into his abdomen. Then he said: “Take me to al-Ḥajjāj so that I may speak to him.” The bringers of good news hurried to al-Ḥajjāj, and he said: “Has the wicked man grown impatient? Bring him to me!” When they brought him, al-Ḥajjāj said: “Well now, have you grown impatient?” He said: “No, by Allah, I have not grown impatient, nor do I covet life, and I know that I am going to die. Rather, I came to reproach you for your wicked deeds and to heal my chest. Are you not the perpetrator of such-and-such? Are you not the perpetrator of such-and-such?”—reproaching him until he enraged him. So al-Ḥajjāj called for a spear and thrust it into his mouth.