ABSTRACT
It is related, O auspicious King, that there was once, on the throne of Basrah, a sultān, tributary to the Khalīfah Hārūn al-Rashīd, whose name was Muhammad ibn Sulaimān al-Zainī. He loved the poor and lowly, raised the fallen, and parted with his gold to all Believers in the Prophet, on whom be the prayer and peace of Allāh. He was in every way worthy of that ode which a poet wrote in his honour. It begins: His ink was blood and his good lance at rest A ready pen For fair calligraphy; It wrote red songs in praise of victory Upon the white papyrus of the breast Of other men.
