(al-ʿAzl) Withdrawal and sundry other topics; (al-Arbaʿūn al-Ṭiwāl) The Forty Lengthy Ḥadiths, one volume; (al-Arbaʿūn al-Baladiyyah) The Forty Local Ḥadiths, one fascicle (1); (al-Arbaʿūn fī al-Jihād (2)) The Forty on Jihād; (al-Arbaʿūn al-Abdāl (3)) The Forty on the Abdāl; (Faḍl ʿĀshūrāʾ) The Merit of ʿĀshūrāʾ, three fascicles; (Ṭuruq Qabḍ al-ʿIlm (4)) The Paths by Which Knowledge Is Preserved, one fascicle; Kitāb al-Zalāzil (The Book of Earthquakes), one volume; (al-Muṣāb bi-l-Walad) Consolation for One Bereaved of a Child, two fascicles; (Shuyūkh al-Nabal (5)) The Masters of Archery, one volume; (ʿAwālī Shuʿbah) High-Chain Narrations of Shuʿbah, twelve fascicles; (ʿAwālī Sufyān) High-Chain Narrations of Sufyān, four fascicles; (Muʿjam al-Qurā wa-l-Amṣār) A Dictionary of Villages and Cities, one fascicle. He then listed for him several other compositions (6).

He said: “He dictated four hundred and eight sittings.”

He added: “He was assiduous in attending the congregational prayer and in reciting the Qur’an: he completed a full recitation every Friday, and in Ramadan he completed one each day. He would observe retreat in the eastern minaret, and he engaged extensively in supererogatory prayers and litanies. He would keep vigil in prayer and glorification on the night of mid-Shaʿbān and on both ʿĪds, and he held himself to account for even a single moment spent outside of obedience.”

He said to me: “When my mother was carrying me, she saw in her dream someone saying, ‘You will give birth to a boy who will have a notable standing.’

“He also told me that his father saw a vision whose meaning was: ‘A son will be born to you through whom Allah will revive the Sunnah.’ And when he resolved to set out on his journey, …”