Al-Ḥārith ibn ʿUbayd said: Abū ʿImrān al-Jawni related to us that Nauf al-Bikāli (1) said, “I find in the revealed Book of Allah that Ibn al-Zubayr is the champion of the caliphs.”
Mahdī ibn Maymūn reported: Muḥammad ibn Abī Yaʿqūb told us that Muʿāwiyah used to meet Ibn al-Zubayr and say, “Welcome, son of the Messenger of Allah’s paternal aunt and son of the Messenger’s disciple!” He would then order that one hundred thousand be given to him. (2)
Ibn Jurayj narrated from Ibn Abī Mulaykah: Ibn al-Zubayr was mentioned in the presence of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said, “A devoted reciter of Allah’s Book, chaste in Islam. His father is al-Zubayr, his mother Asmāʾ, his grandfather Abū Bakr, his aunt Khadījah, his maternal aunt ʿĀʾishah, and his grandmother Ṣafiyyah. By Allah, I reckon his merits within myself in a way I have not even for Abū Bakr and ʿUmar.” (3)
Muslim al-Zanjī said: I heard ʿAmr ibn Dīnār say, “I have never seen anyone whose prayer was more excellent than ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Zubayr’s.” (4)
ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn ʿAbd al-Wārith reported: Māṭirah al-Mahrīyyah told us—my aunt Umm Jaʿfar bint al-Nuʿmān told me—that she once greeted Asmāʾ bint Abī Bakr while Ibn al-Zubayr was with her. She said, “He spends the night standing in prayer and the day fasting; he used to be called the Dove of the Mosque.” (5)
Ibn Abī Mulaykah said: ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz said to me, “In your heart there is regarding Ibn—”