[Al-Būshanjī:] Al-Muʿtaṣim returned to Baghdad from the Byzantine front in Ramadan of ’18. It was then that he tried Aḥmad and had him flogged before him. A trustworthy associate of mine reported to me what he was told by Ibrāhīm ibn Muṣ‘ab, who at that time was standing in for Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm as al-Mu‘taṣim’s chief of police: “I’ve never seen anyone brought face to face with kings and princes show as little fear as Aḥmad did that day. To him we were nothing but a cloud of flies.”
The Caliphate 