18 - Abu Bakr al-Marrudhi informed us, saying: I visited Abu Abdullah on the day Ibn Asim al-Rafidi was flogged at the head of the bridge, for he had been given the prescribed legal punishment (hadd). I entered upon Abu Abdullah and saw him joyful, with the traces of happiness apparent on his face. He said to me: "Abu Hurayrah said: 'The establishment of a hadd in the land is better for the land than that it should rain for forty days.'" I said to Abu Abdullah: "I have absolved the Caliph of any responsibility if he owes us anything regarding our affairs." Abu Abdullah smiled, and the one who had ordered his flogging was Ja'far al-Mansur, may Allah have mercy upon him. When the second flogging occurred, in which he died, I entered upon Abu Abdullah, and he began to recite "Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un" (We belong to Allah and to Him we shall return) and ask Allah for well-being.