Al-Rashid was unable to stand and flamed up with rage when he saw the Muslim masses frequently and in groups visit the shrine of the plant of the sweet basil of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and his family, and master of the youth of the Garden Imam al-Husayn, peace be on him. So he ordered the custodian of the Holy Shrine, Ibn Abi Dawud, that he might wreak his wrath and torture upon him. When he stood before him, he said to him angrily:
“What has made you live in al-Hayr?”
“Indeed, al-Hasan b. Rashid has put me in that place,” answered Ibn Abi Dawud.
So al-Rashid shook his head and ordered him to be brought immediately, saying: “I think that this has been planned by al-Hasan.”
When he stood before him, he asked him: “What made you put this man (Ibn Abi Dawud) in al-Hayr?”
Al-Hasan asked him for sympathy, saying: “May Allah have mercy on him who placed him in al-Hayr. Um Musa[Um Musa is the mother of al-Mehdi. She was the daughter of Yazid b. Mansur al-Himyari, a Yemeni king.] ordered me to place him in it and to give him thirty dirhams a month.”
So al-Rashid became calm and said: “Return him to al-Hayr and give to him what Um Musa had given to him.”
Shortly after that al-Rashid ordered the Holy Shrine and the neighboring houses to be demolished. He ordered the nabk tree beside the Holy Grave to be uprooted.[3] Moreover he ordered the land of Kerbela to be plow, that he might efface the traces of the Pure Grave. However, Allah took vengeance on him. For he died in Khuresan before the end of the year.