Tarikh (al-Tabari) 2886
Then the year 155 AH began
وَفِيهَا سَيَّرَ الْمَهْدِيَّ لِبِنَاءِ الرَّافِقَةِ، فَسَارَ إِلَيْهَا فَبَنَاهَا عَلَى بِنَاءِ مَدِينَةِ بَغْدَاذَ، وَعَمِلَ لِلْكُوفَةِ وَالْبَصْرَةِ سُورًا وَخَنْدَقًا، وَجَعَلَ مَا أَنْفَقَ فِيهِ مِنَ الْأَمْوَالِ عَلَى أَهْلِهَا. وَلَمَّا أَرَادَ الْمَنْصُورُ مَعْرِفَةَ عَدَدِهِمْ أَمَرَ أَنْ يُقَسَّمَ فِيهِمْ خَمْسَةُ دَرَاهِمَ خَمْسَةُ دَرَاهِمَ، فَلَمَّا عَلِمَ عَدَدَهُمْ، أَمَرَ بِجِبَايَتِهِمْ أَرْبَعِينَ دِرْهَمًا لِكُلِّ وَاحِدٍ، فَقَالَ الشَّاعِرُ: يَا لَقَوْمِي مَا لَقِينَا مِنْ أَمِيرِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَا قَسَمَ الْخَمْسَةَ فِينَا وَجَبَانَا الْأَرْبَعِينَا.
Translation
✧ In it, al-Mahdī was dispatched to build al-Rāfiqah. He went to it and built it on the model of the city of Baghdād, and he made for al-Kūfah and al-Baṣrah a wall and a moat, and he made what was spent on it from the funds the responsibility of their inhabitants. When al-Manṣūr wanted to know their number, he ordered that five dirhams be distributed among them, five dirhams each. When he came to know their number, he ordered that forty dirhams be collected from each one. The poet said: O my people, what we have met from the Commander of the Faithful! He distributed the five among us, and collected from us the forty.
Grades by grader
No grade is recorded for this wording.