Al-Kattānī states in Al-Wafayāt: A letter arrived from a group confirming that the ḥadith master Abū Bakr died on the seventh of Dhu al-Ḥijjah, and that Imām Abū Isḥāq al-Shīrāzī carried his bier (1).

He was trustworthy—a hadith master, precise, scrupulous, and a prolific author.

Abū al-Barakāt Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Saʿd al-Ṣūfī said: “Shaykh Abū Bakr Ibn Zuhrah al-Ṣūfī, who resided in our ribāṭ (Sufi lodge), had prepared a grave for himself beside the grave of Bishr al-Ḥāfī. Once each week he would go to it, lie down in it, and recite the entire Quran there. When Abū Bakr al-Khaṭīb died—having directed that he be buried next to Bishr’s grave—the people of ḥadith came to Ibn Zuhrah and asked him to bury al-Khaṭīb in his grave and give him precedence. He refused, saying, ‘Shall the place I have set aside for myself be taken from me!’

“They then went to my father (2) and told him the story. He summoned Ibn Zuhrah—whose full name was Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī al-Ṭuraythīthī (3)—and said, ‘I am not telling you to hand them the grave, but consider this: if Bishr al-Ḥāfī were alive and you were sitting beside him, and Abū Bakr al-Khaṭīb came to sit below you, would it be fitting for you to sit higher than he (4)?’

“‘No,’ he replied, ‘rather, I would seat him in my own place.’

“‘Then that is exactly what you ought to do now.’

“His heart was set at ease, and he gave his permission (5).”

Abū al-Faḍl ibn Khayrūn said: “A certain righteous man came to me and informed me that when he died—”