ibn Ḥasan, who had led the uprising in Basra. They said to him, “There is a man here who is deterring (1) the people from rallying to you.” Ibrāhīm therefore sent him a message: “What concern is there between you and me?”

So Ibn ʿAwn left Basra, settled in al-Qurayẓiyyah, and closed his door to visitors.

Al-Anṣārī said: I heard Ibn ʿAwn relate that he once entered upon Salm ibn Qutaybah while the latter was governor. He said only, “Peace be upon you,” and added nothing more. Salm laughed and remarked, “We will excuse that from Ibn ʿAwn”—meaning that he had not prefaced his greeting with any acknowledgment of the governorship.

Ibn ʿAwn lived in ease, with ample provision. Muʿādh ibn Muʿādh said, “I saw him wearing a fine, lightweight woollen burnous.” Someone asked, “What is that burnous, Abū ʿAwn?” He replied, “It used to belong to Ibn ʿUmar; he gave it to Anas ibn Sīrīn, and I purchased it from Anas’s estate.”

Bakkār ibn Muḥammad al-Sīrīnī said: “He had a seventh of the Quran that he recited every night; if he missed it at night he completed it during the day. He would ride his she-camel on campaign to Syria, and once there he would mount a horse. He once fought a Byzantine in single combat and killed him.

“When his brethren visited him, it was as though birds were perched on their heads—so much awe and humility did they show. I never saw him jest with anyone or recite poetry. He was absorbed in his own spiritual state, and I never heard him mention Bilāl ibn Abī Burdah at all.

“I was informed that some people once said to him, ‘Abū ʿAwn, Bilāl has done such-and-such.’ He replied, ‘A man may be wronged, yet he keeps on speaking until he himself becomes the wrong-doer. I do not think any of you is harsher toward Bilāl than I am.’ Bilāl had lashed him with whips because he had married an Arab woman.

“One of our companions told me that Ibn ʿAwn owned a she-camel on which he would set out for jihad and for the pilgrimage, and he was very fond of her. He ordered a young servant to draw water with her, and the servant returned after having beaten her…”