He died a martyr during the incident known as “the seizure of al-Wafd” in 403 AH (1).
117 – Ibn Wajh al-Jannah, Yaḥyā ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Qurṭubī *
A venerable, trustworthy, and long-lived shaykh, Abū Bakr Yaḥyā ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Masʿūd ibn Mūsā al-Qurṭubī, commonly called Ibn Wajh al-Jannah (“the man of the face of Paradise”).
He received hadith from Qāsim ibn Aṣbagh, Muḥammad ibn Abī Dulaym, Muḥammad ibn Muʿāwiyah, Ibn Ḥazm al-Ṣadafī, and Aḥmad ibn Muṭarrif.
A pious and upright man, he was among the certified court witnesses of the judge Abū Bakr ibn al-Salīm, and he supported himself by working in the silk-brocade trade (khazz).
Reported from him: Abū ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, Abū Muḥammad Ibn Ḥazm, and a number of others.
He was born in 304 AH and passed away in Dhū al-Ḥijjah 402 AH.
He was the oldest shaykh whom Ibn Ḥazm ever met.
(1) The author writes in Al-ʻIbar (Events of the year 403 AH): “That year the Iraqi pilgrimage caravan was seized in what was later called the ‘Waqisa raid’. Flayta al-Khafaji—may God disgrace him—descended on Waqisa with six hundred men, drained the water-sources, and threw colocynth into the wells. When the caravan reached the mountain pass, he blocked their way and would not let them proceed unless they paid fifty-thousand dinars. Overcome by fear, weakness and thirst, they surrendered when the accursed man attacked, having no means of defence. He took possession of the laden camels and drove them off. The caravan was virtually annihilated; it is said that fifteen thousand people died. Fakhr al-Mulk, the vizier ʿAli ibn Mazid, pursued the attackers near Basra, defeated them, killed many, and captured Flayta’s father, al-Ashtar, together with fourteen others. The people’s goods were found scattered, and whatever could be recovered was taken back. As for the prisoners, they were left on the bank of the Tigris, looking at the water but denied a drink, until they died.” Al-ʻIbar, 3/82–83.
(*) Al-Sila 2/663; Al-ʻIbar 3/82; Shadharat al-Dhahab 3/165.