An Amusing Incident

ONE night Khalif Haaroon Ar-Rashid of Baghdad was quite restless, and said to his vizier (Secretary or Minister), Jaafar Ibn Yahya al-Barmaki:

"I cannot sleep this night. I feel depressed, and do not know what to do."

His servant Masrur, who happened to be standing nearby, burst out laughing at these words, and the Khalif asked:

"What are you laughing for? Do you mock at me or are you just being frivolous?"

Masrur replied: "I take an oath by your relationship to the Leader of the Prophets Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam that I have done this unintentionally. It was just that last night I was outside the castle walking towards the bank of the river Tigris, when I saw many people gathered around a man who was making them laugh. I remembered some of his words which caused me to laugh. His name is Ibnul Maghaazali. I beg your pardon, O Commander of the Faithful!"

Haaroon Ar-Rashid said: "Bring him to me immediately. "

Accordingly Masrur went out to find Ibnul Maghaazali. When he had found him Masroor said to him: "The Commander of the Faithful wants you."

Ibnul Maghaazali replied: "To hear is to obey! "

Masrur continued: "But on the condition that if he presents you with a gift, a quarter of it will belong to you, and the rest to me."

Ibnul Maghaazali replied: "No, half will be mine and half yours." But Masroor would not agree.

Ibnul Maghaazali again proposed : “I will keep a third of it and you can have the remaining two-thirds."

They finally agreed to this after a great deal of haggling.

When he was brought he greeted in an impeccable manner and introduced himself very well. Haaroon Ar-Rashid said to him: "If you make me laugh I shall give you five hundred dinars (local currency of the time), but if you fail to make me laugh I shall give you three blows with this sock."

Now Ibnul Maghaazali said to himself: "What are the odds of me getting three strokes with the sock?" (He thought that the sock was empty). Accordingly he began to joke and to play tricks which would have made even caused a rock to laugh. But not Haaroon Ar-Rasheed, who did not even smile.

Ibnul Maghaazali was first astonished, then grieved and at last frightened.

Haaroon Ar-Rasheed said to him: "Now you have deserved the blows." He then took up the sock and twisted it. In the sock there were four stones, each of which weighed two ratals (a unit of measurement). When he struck Ibnul Maghaazali once, the latter yelled out in pain.

He remembered the condition Masrur had imposed upon him and exclaimed: "Pardon, O Commander of the Faithful, listen to only two more words of mine."

Haaroon Ar-Rasheed replied: "Say as you wish.'"

The man continued: "Masrur and myself have an agreement. I have agreed to let Masrur have two-thirds of the reward I might receive, and to keep one-third for myself. To this he had agreed only after much bargaining. The Commander of the Faithful has decided that the reward would consist of three blows, of which my share would be one, and Masrur's two. I have received mine, and now it is his turn."

Haaroon Ar-Rasheed laughed, called for Masrur and struck him. Masrur groaned from pain, and said: "I give him the remainder as a gift!"

The Khalif laughed and ordered them to be given one thousand dinars. Each received five hundred, and Ibnul Maghaazali went away grateful.' (Al-Mustatraf Vol. 1, p 473)