Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah 32651 — Reports on talk about rulers

Abu Wa'il said: A message from al-Hajjaj came to me, so I went to him at al-Ahwaz. He asked me: "How much of the Qur'an have you memorised?" I said: "I have memorised enough that if I follow it, it suffices me." He said: "I want to seek your help in some of my work." I said: "If you plunge me into this work, I will go in; and if you assign some other man along with me, I will fear bad confidants." He said: At this al-Hajjaj said: "By Allah, you have spoken the truth. Bad confidants are indeed a cause of a man's ruin." I said: "All night I have been restless on my bed, 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 kill a man for an offence over the like of which people before me also feared killing."