Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah

Abu Wa'il narrates that I received a message from Hajjaj, so I went to him at Ahwaz. He asked me, "How much of the Qur'an have you memorized?" I replied, "I have memorized enough that if I follow it, it will suffice for me." He said, "I want to seek your help in some of my affairs." I said, "If you throw me into this work, I will withdraw, and if you assign another man with me, I will fear having a bad confidant." He says that upon this Hajjaj said, "By Allah, you have spoken the truth. Indeed, bad confidants are a cause of a man's corruption." I said, "I spent the whole night on my bed anxious about this matter, fearing that you might kill me." He said, "Why would I kill you? By Allah, since you have said this, I will tell you: I only kill a man for such a crime that people before me also feared being killed for such a thing."