place of Zâdân. Ṣâliḥ reported to al-Ḥajjâj the conversation that took place between him and Zâdân relative to the change of the language of the register. Al-Ḥajjâj immediately made up his mind to adopt Arabic as the language of the register and charged Ṣâliḥ with the task. Mardânshâh ibn-Zâdân Farrûkh asked Ṣâliḥ, "What wouldst thou do with dahwiyah and shashwiyah?" To this, Ṣâliḥ replied, "I shall use instead ʿushr [tenth] and nuṣfʿushr[1] [half-tenth]."—"And what about wîd?"—"I shall use aiḍan" (wîd means excess).[2] Hearing that, Mardânshâh said, "May God efface thy trace from the world as thou hast effaced the trace of the Persian!" Ṣâliḥ was later offered 100,000 dirhams in order to show that it was impossible to change the language of the register and to refrain from doing it; but he refused and carried out the plan. ʿAbd-al-Ḥamîd ibn-Yaḥya, the secretary of Marwan ibn-Muḥammad used to say, "Great is Ṣâliḥ, and great is the favor he has bestowed upon the secretaries!"
ʿUmar ibn-Shabbah from Sahl ibn-abi-aṣ-Ṣalt:—Al-Ḥajjâj assigned for Ṣâliḥ ibn-ʿAbd-ar-Raḥmân a certain period in which to change the language of the register.[3]
