and he said, “Stay in our presence and instruct those who sit around us in jurisprudence.” (1)
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd reported, “He had been a mukātib (contractual slave) to a woman of the Banū Makhzūm. After he paid the agreed sum and was emancipated, Umm Mūsā, daughter of Manṣūr, purchased his walāʾ (manumission bond).”
He died in Baghdad in 170 AH.
Dāwūd ibn Muḥammad narrated—from his father—that Abū Maʿshar passed away in 170 AH. He was blue-eyed, stout, and fair-skinned.
Muḥammad ibn Bakkār likewise dated his death to that same year, specifying that it occurred in Ramadan.
Aḥmad ibn Hibat Allah told us—through ʿAbd al-Muʿizz ibn Muḥammad, Tamīm ibn Abī Saʿīd, Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, Abū ʿAmr ibn Ḥamdān, and Abū Yaʿlā al-Tamīmī—that Bishr ibn al-Walīd related to us: “Abū Maʿshar al-Madanī narrated to us from Saʿīd al-Maqburī and Mūsā ibn Saʿd, from Abū Hurayrah, who said:
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, ‘The Hour will not be established until al-harj increases.’
They asked, ‘O Messenger of Allah, what is al-harj?’
He replied, ‘Killing,’ and he repeated it three times. (2)
(1) The rest of the report is found in al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Tarikh Baghdad, vol. 13, p. 428: “Abu Mashar then accompanied him to Madinat al-Salam in the year 61 AH.”
(2) The chain of transmission is weak because of Abu Mashar, yet the hadith itself is sound. Muslim narrated it (4/2215, no. 18) through Qutayba b. Saʿid – Yaʿqub b. ʿAbd al-Rahman – Suhayl b. Abi Salih – his father – Abu Hurayra: the Messenger of Allah said, “The Hour will not come until al-harj becomes widespread.” They asked, “What is al-harj, O Messenger of Allah?” He replied, “Killing, killing.”
Bukhari also transmitted it (13/11, Book of Tribulations) via ʿAyyash b. al-Walid – ʿAbd al-Aʿla – Maʿmar – al-Zuhri – Saʿid – Abu Hurayra, with the wording: “Time will contract, knowledge will diminish, stinginess will be cast into people’s hearts, trials will appear, and al-harj will multiply.” They asked, “O Messenger of Allah, what is it?” He said, “Killing, killing.”
Muslim has another chain (4/2057) through Harmala – Ibn Wahb – Yunus – Ibn Shihab – Humayd b. ʿAbd al-Rahman b. ʿAwf – Abu Hurayra, where the wording is “knowledge will be taken away” instead of “will diminish.”
The phrase “wa-yulqa al-shuhh” means that stinginess will be implanted in people’s hearts.