Harun’s tyrannical soul had neither mercy nor compassion toward the ‘Alawids, for he committed the most horrible crime history has recorded against them. He ordered a group of them to be executed on one night in a sorrowful way. Hemid b. Qehteba, a headsman, related that terrible tragedy. ‘Ubayd Allah al-Nisaburi narrated, saying: “I came in to Hemid b. Qehteba in the month of Remedan. He ordered a lunch to be brought. Then he invited me to have food, so I said to him: ‘O Emir, this is the month of Remedan. I am not sick, nor have I an illness that makes fast breaking obligatory. Perhaps the Emir has an excuse in respect with that.’ He said to me: ‘I have no illness that makes fast breaking obligatory. Then he wept.’” After he had had the lunch, ‘Ubayd Allah turned to him and asked him about the reason for his weeping, and he answered him:
-When I was at Tus, Harun sent for me at a dark night. When I stood before him, he asked me:
-How is your obedience to the Commander of the faithful?
-I sacrifice my soul and property for him.
So Harun bowed his head, and then he let me go. Shortly after that he sent for me. When I stood before him, he asked me:
-How is your obedience to the Commander of the faithful?
-I sacrifice my soul and property for him.
So Harun smiled, and then he allowed go. When I came into my house, the messenger came for the third time, saying: “Respond to the Commander of the faithful.” When I stood before him, he asked me:
-How is your obedience to the Commander of the faithful?
-I sacrifice my soul and property for him.
So he smiled and said: “Take this sword and carry out the servant’s orders. I took the sword. The servant walked in front of me until he led me to a closed house. There was a well in the middle of the house. In it there were three closed rooms. He opened one of them, and I found in it twenty persons; they were ranging among old, middle-aged, and young. Then he said to me: “Indeed, the Commander of the faithful is commanding you to kill these (people); they all are the sons of ‘Ali and Fatima.”
He took them out one by one, and I beheaded them. Then he threw their bodies and their heads into the well. Then he opened the second room where there was twenty persons and said to me: “Indeed, the Commander of the faithful is commanding you to kill these (people); they all are the sons of ‘Ali and Fatima.” He took them out one by one, and I beheaded them. Then he threw their bodies and their heads into the well. Then he opened the third room where there was twenty ‘Alawids. He took them out one by one and ordered me to kill them. I executed nineteen of them, and there remained an old man, who said to me: “Woe to you! Which an excuse will you have on the Day of Resurrection when you meet my grandfather, Allah’s Apostle, may Allah bless him and his family, and you killed sixty persons from among his grandsons? So I shook all over with fear. A violent shock befell me, so the servant looked at me angrily and rebuked me. For this reason I killed that old man and threw him in that well.
Then he turned to ‘Ubayd Allah and asked him: “Do my fasting and my prayer benefit me while I killed sixty persons from among the children of Allah’s Apostle, may Allah bless him and his family? I have no doubt that I will be immortal in the fire!” ( Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 11, pp. 285-286. ‘Uyun Akhbar al-Rida.)