[257] And from it, from Ibn Abbas, that a black man entered unto the Commander of the Faithful and said to him: "O Commander of the Faithful, indeed I have stolen, so purify me." So he asked him three times, and he confessed three times, and he said: "Purify me, O Commander of the Faithful, indeed I have stolen." So he commanded his amputation, so he was cut. Then Ibn al-Kawwa' met him and said: "Who cut your hand?"

He said: "The lion of the Hijaz, and the ram of Iraq, and the severer of the heroes, the avenger from the ignorant, the generous of origin, the noble of descent, the locus of the two sanctuaries (al-Haramayn), the inheritor of the two sacred monuments (al-Mash'arayn), the father of the two grandsons (al-Sibtayn), the first of the foremost, the last of the legatees (al-wasiyyin), from the family of Yasin (Al Yasin), the supported by Gabriel, the aided by Michael, the firm rope, the guarded by the soldiers of the heaven altogether; that, by Allah, is the Commander of the Faithful despite the resentful ones."

So Ibn al-Kawwa' said: "He cut your hand and you praise him?"