The people in the palace slept. The guards and the soldiers stayed up. They were walking through the porches. They were carrying torches, swords and spears.
Two guards stood at the door of a big hall. Al-Hajjaj bin Yousif al-Thaqafy, the Iraqi ruler, slept in the hall.
The guards said to his friends:
I’ve heard that the prince has become crazy.
The other side:
His behaviour shows his madness. He has not slept since he killed Saeed bin Jubayr. He always wakes and shouts with alarm: “Why have I killed him?”
I heard him saying to Dr. Tyyadok:
“I am always dreaming that I see Saeed bin Jubayr pulling my neck. I heard him saying: “Allah’s enemy, why have you killed me?”
The Prince has killed over one hundred thousand men and women. There are fifty thousand men and thirty thousand women in his prisons.
In the meantime, they heard a yell of fear. They heard al-Hajjaj saying:
Why have I killed Saeed bin Jubayr?
The guard said to his friend:
I think that Saeed bin Jubayr has appeared again.
The other asked:
Who was that good man?