٢١٨- وحدث عن رشيق صاحب المادراي قال:بعث إلينا المعتضد ونحن ثلاثة نفر فأمرنا أن يركب كل واحد منا فرسا ونجنب آخر ونخرج مخفين لا يكون معنا قليل ولا كثير إلا على السرج مصلى، وقال (لنا): الحقوا بسامرة. ووصف لنا محلة ودارا وقال: إذا أتيتموها تجدون على الباب خادما أسود فاكبسوا الدار، ومن رأيتم فيها فأتوني برأسه. فوافينا سامرة فوجدنا الامر كما وصفه، وفي الدهليز خادم أسود وفي يده تكة ينسجها، فسألناه عن الدار ومن فيها، فقال: صاحبها. فوالله ما التفت إلينا وقل اكتراثه بنا، فكبسنا الدار كما أمرنا، فوجدنا دارا سرية ومقابل الدار ستر ما نظرت قط إلى أنبل منه، كأن الايدي رفعت عنه في ذلك الوقت، ولم يكن في الدار أحد. فرفعنا الستر فإذا بيت كبير كأن بحرا فيه (ماء)، وفي أقصى البيت حصير قد علمنا أنه على الماء، وفوقه رجل من أحسن الناس هيئة قائم يصلي،فلم يلتفت إلينا ولا إلى شيء من أسبابنا. فسبق أحمد بن عبد الله ليتخطى البيت فغرق في الماء، وما زال يضطرب حتى مددت يدي إليه فخلصته وأخرجته وغشي عليه وبقي ساعة، وعاد صاحبي الثاني إلى فعل ذلك الفعل فناله مثل ذلك، وبقيت مبهوتا. فقلت لصاحب البيت:المعذرة إلى الله وإليك، فو الله ما علمت كيف الخبر ولا إلى من أجئ وأنا تائب إلى الله. فمـا التفـت إلى شـيء ممـا قلنـا، ومـا انفتـل عمـا كـان فيه فهالنا ذلك، وانصرفنا عنه، وقد كان المعتضد ينتظرنا وقد تقدم إلى الحجاب إذا وافيناه أن ندخل عليه في أي وقت كان. فوافيناه في بعض الليل فأدخلنا عليه فسألنا عن الخبر، فحكينا له ما رأينا، فقال: ويحكم! لقيكم أحد قبلي وجرى منكم إلى أحد سبب أو قول؟ قلنا: لا. فقال: أنا نفي من جدي. وحلف بأشد أيمان له أنه رجل إن بلغه هذا الخبر ليضربن أعناقنا، فما جسرنا أن نحدث به إلا بعد موته.
H 218 - It is narrated from Rashiq of Madarai that he said: Motazid sent a messenger to the three of us and ordered us to mount our horses and not to take anything with us, except the prayer mat and reach so and so house in such and such locality of Samarrah. “There you will find a black servant. You should besiege that house and apprehend anyone you see there and bring him to me.” Thus we reached Samarrah and made way to the house Motazid had specified. On the doorstep was a black servant spinning threads. We asked him who was present there. He replied: ‘The owner.’ By Allah, he did not stop us in any way. We entered the house as we had been ordered. The house was absolutely clean and there was a curtain in the front; so beautiful as we had never seen before, as if it was just made at that moment. There was no one in the house and we pulled the curtain aside. We saw a huge room with a stream of water and at the end of which was a mat, which seemed to be floating on the water. Upon the mat stood the most handsome man engrossed in prayers. He neither paid attention to us nor to our means. At that moment Ahmad bin Abdullah, from among us stepped in the water in order to enter the room, but he began to drown. He struggled with all his might to keep himself from drowning till we stretched our hands and pulled him out. He fell down unconscious for sometime. Then another member of our group also tried to step in water to enter the room and he also fell down in the same condition. I was shocked and awed. Then I addressed the owner of the house: I seek forgiveness for you in the court of Allah, by Allah I don’t know what the matter is and to whom we have come and indeed I beg Allah for forgiveness. However, he did not give any response to what I had said and did not come out of his condition. Due to this a terrible awe struck us and we came out of there. Motazid was waiting for us and had instructed the sentry that as soon as we returned, we should be taken to him immediately. We reached him in the middle of the night. He asked us about what had passed. We related to him everything in detail. He cried: Woe be unto you, did anyone see you before me? And did anyone else hear this from you? We said: No. He said: I am not the grandson of my grandfather  – and he took a great oath – if I ever hear it, I shall cut off your heads. We also did not dare to relate this matter to anyone as long as Motazid was alive.