Al-Asmaʿī said: “Jaʿfar ibn Sulaymān once rode out in a striking display of elegance. In Basra there was a righteous jurist whose mind had become unbalanced. He went out and positioned himself on Jaʿfar’s route, and said to him, ‘O Jaʿfar! Reflect on what sort of man you will be when you rise from your grave and are carried across the Sirat, for tomorrow this retinue and attire will not be worth even a grain and will avail you nothing before Allah. You will die alone, enter your grave alone, stand before Allah alone, and be judged alone. So look to your own soul—indeed I have given you sincere counsel.’

Ibn al-Fūtī (1) mentions Jaʿfar, calling him “the master of Banū Hāshim,” and says that his daily revenue in Basra was eighty thousand dirhams.

Hammad ibn Zayd said: “I washed the body of Jaʿfar ibn Sulaymān and buttoned his shirt on him when I wrapped him in the shroud. His uncle ʿAbd al-Samad then arrived with nine garments to enshroud him in, yet he was shrouded in only three, in conformity with the sunnah.”

A number of poets praised him and received generous rewards for their panegyrics.

He died in 174 AH; others say in 175.

52 – His brother, Muḥammad ibn Sulaymān al-ʿAbbāsī
He too governed Basra, was the foremost horseman of Banū Hāshim, and it was he who killed Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAbd Allāh.