Hishām ibn Ḥassān said, “In the short span between Maghrib and ʿIshāʾ he would finish the Qur’an twice, and on the third reading he would reach the ṭawāseen (1). His turban would be soaked with the tears that flowed from his eyes.

Ṣāliḥ ibn ʿUmar al-Wāsiṭī related: ‘Al-Ḥasan would sit with his companions and would not rise until Mansūr ibn Zādhān had completed his recitation.’

Hushaym said: ‘If someone had told Mansūr, “The Angel of Death is at the door,” he would not have added a single deed to what he was already doing. He used to pray from sunrise until he performed the ʿAṣr prayer, and then engage in tasbīḥ until Maghrib.’

Khalaf ibn Khalīfah transmitted from Mansūr: ‘Anxiety and grief increase one’s good deeds, while exultation and arrogance increase one’s sins.’

Abū Maʿmar al-Qaṭīʿī said: ʿAbbād ibn al-ʿAwwām told me that he attended the funeral of Mansūr ibn Zādhān and remarked, ‘I saw the Christians in one group, the Zoroastrians in another, and the Jews in another, and my uncle had to take my hand because of the crush of the crowd.’

Shuʿbah, reporting from Hishām ibn Ḥassān, said: ‘I prayed beside Mansūr ibn Zādhān between Maghrib and ʿIshāʾ; he was reciting the Qur’an and, on his second reading, had reached Sūrat al-Naḥl.’

Yazīd ibn Hārūn said: ‘He died in the year 131 AH.’

I say: His grave in Wāsiṭ is clearly visible and is visited.

197 – Yūsuf ibn ʿUmar * ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥakam ibn Abī ʿUqayl al-Thaqafī

He was governor of the two Iraqs and of Khurāsān under Hishām, a post in which al-Walīd ibn Yazīd later confirmed him.

He was bold, capable, politically astute, awe-inspiring, domineering, harsh, generous, and open-handed.