 One account, which has become the established account, was related by Al Hariri's son, Abu al-Qasim Abdullah, is that the author and his servants, were seated in a mosque in Banu Haaran when an indigent man, by the name of Abu Zayd, dressed in ragged cloaks, entered and spoke with great fluency and elegance.The speaker related the story of his native city of Saruj being ransacked and his daughter taken captive.As soon as it first appeared, Al-Hariri's "Maqamat" attained enormous popularity across the Arab-speaking world, with people travelling from as far afield as Andalusia (Spain) to hear the verse read from the author's lips.