with a more pronounced mark of prostration between his brows than Ibn al-Zubayr.

Muʿṣab ibn ʿAbd Allāh reported: My father told us, from ʿUmar ibn Qays, from his mother, that she once entered Ibn al-Zubayr’s house while he was praying. A snake fell onto his little boy Hāshim, so they cried out, “The snake! The snake!” They hurled it away, yet he did not break off his prayer. (1)

Maymūn ibn Mihrān said: “I saw Ibn al-Zubayr fasting continuously from one Friday to the next. When he finally broke the fast, he fortified himself with ghee so that his body would soften.”

Layth narrated from Mujāhid: “There was no act of worship people felt unable to manage except that Ibn al-Zubayr undertook it. A flood once filled the House (Kaʿbah), and he performed the circumambulation swimming.” (2)

ʿUthmān ibn Ṭalḥah said: “In three qualities Ibn al-Zubayr had no challenger: bravery, devotion, and eloquence.”

Ibrāhīm ibn Saʿd, from al-Zuhrī, from Anas, related that ʿUthmān ordered Zayd, Ibn al-Zubayr, Saʿīd ibn al-ʿĀṣ, and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ḥārith ibn Hishām to copy out the codices. He said, “If you and Zayd differ about anything, write it in the tongue of Quraysh, for it was only revealed in their tongue.” (3)

Abu Nuʿaym said: ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Ayman narrated to us: “I saw on Ibn al-Zubayr a cloak from ʿAdan in which he used to pray. He had a powerful voice—when he preached, the two mountains would echo back at him. He wore flowing locks down to his neck, and his beard was tinged yellow.”