and ninety; that is a mistake.

Al-Walīd ibn Mazīd said, “He was born in Baalbek and raised in al-Kark (1)—a village in the Beqāʿ—then his mother moved him to Beirut.”

Al-ʿAbbās ibn al-Walīd recounted, “I never saw my father marvel at anything in this world as much as he marveled at al-Awzāʿī. He would say:

‘Glory be to You; You do whatever You will! Al-Awzāʿī was an orphan, poor, under his mother’s care, and she carried him from one town to another. Yet Your decree for him brought him to the station at which I have seen him. My son, kings have been unable to train themselves and their children to the refinement that al-Awzāʿī instilled in himself. I never heard from him a single noble word without the listener feeling obliged to record it, and I never saw him laugh out loud. Indeed, whenever he began to speak about the Resurrection, I would say to myself: Can there be a heart in this assembly that has not wept?’”

Al-Fasawī said, “I heard al-ʿAbbās ibn al-Walīd ibn Mazīd, from his elders, relate:

Al-Awzāʿī said, ‘My father died when I was a small boy. I went out to play with the other youngsters, and a certain man—he mentioned a venerable Arab elder—passed by. The boys scattered when they saw him, but I remained. He asked, “Whose son are you?” I told him, and he said, “Nephew, may Allah have mercy on your father.”

‘He took me home with him, and I remained in his care until I reached maturity. He then enrolled me in the army register, and we were drafted for an expedition to al-Yamāmah. When we reached it, we entered the congregational mosque and then departed. One of our companions said to me, “I saw Yaḥyā ibn Abī Kathīr admiring you, saying, ‘I have not seen anyone in this expedition more rightly guided than this young man!’”

‘So I kept his company and wrote down from him fourteen books—or thirteen—but they were all lost in a fire.’”