Abu Ja`far narrated to me. He said: Muhammad b. al-Hasan b. Ahmad b. al-Walid narrated to us. He said: Muhammad b. al-Hasan al-Saffar and Sa`d b. `Abdullah narrated together to us from Ahmad b. Muhammad b. `Isa from al-Hasan b. `Ali b. Yaqtin from his father al-Husayn from his father `Ali b. Yaqtin. He said:

[The Caliph Harun] al-Rashid called for a man to invalidate the authority of Abi’l Hasan Musa b. Ja`far , to refute him and to embarrass him in the gathering. So, he appointed a sorcerer. When the banquet was brought, he summoned a spirit (namus) over the bread; every time the servant of Abi’l Hasan took a piece of bread, it would fly out of his hands. By that, Harun was overtaken with joy and laughing. Then, Abu’l Hasan lifted his head to an image of a lion [painted] on a fabric. He said to it: O lion of Allah! Seize the enemy of Allah. He said: The image of the lion leaped into the mightiest of lions and devoured the sorcerer. Then, Harun and his men fell unconscious to their faces – their minds were blown in fear of what they had seen. When they awoke from that after a while, Harun said to Abi’l Hasan : I ask you by my right over you – ask this image to bring the man back. So, he said: If the staff of Musa could return what it swallowed from the ropes of the people, then this image would return what it swallowed from this man. This was from the most effective of things in the awakening of his soul.