When al-Muhallab became governor of Khurasan he said, “Direct me to a man who possesses every praiseworthy quality.”
So he was pointed to Abū Burdah. When al-Muhallab saw him, he found a man content with little; and when he conversed with him, he judged his inner reality to be better than his outward appearance. He therefore said to him, “I have appointed you over such-and-such a part of my domain.”
Abū Burdah sought to be excused, but al-Muhallab refused, whereupon Abū Burdah said, “My father narrated to me that he heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: ‘Whoever undertakes a post while knowing that he is not qualified for it, let him take his seat in the Fire.’ ”
This report was recorded by al-Ruyānī (1) in his Musnad, through Aḥmad, the nephew of Ibn Wahb, from him.
Saʿīd ibn Abī Burdah also transmitted from his father, who said, “My father, Abū Mūsā, sent me to ʿAbd Allāh ibn Salām so that I might learn from him.”
Abū Nuʿaym stated that Abū Burdah died in 104 AH, while al-Wāqidī held that he died in 103 AH.
As for his brother—Abū Bakr ibn Abī Mūsā al-Ashʿarī, the judge just mentioned—he was a Kufan, an ’Uthmānī, learned and trustworthy. He narrated ḥadīth from his father, from Abū Hurayrah, Ibn ʿAbbās, and Jābir ibn Samurah. Among those who reported from him were Abū ʿImrān al-Jawnī, Abū Jamrah al-Ḍubaʿī, Ḥajjāj ibn Arṭāh, Yūnus ibn Abī Isḥāq, and others. al-Ḥajjāj appointed him judge of Kufa, and he lived only a short time after his brother Abū Burdah. The ḥadīth of both brothers are found in the standard collections.
As for the emir Bilāl ibn Abī Burdah (2), he too was appointed over Basra and was an eminent figure,