khabīs (a sweet confection), even though he himself fasted all the while.

Al-Ḥākim said: Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn ʿUmar informed me; Muhammad ibn al-Mundhir narrated to us; ʿUmar ibn Saʿīd al-Taʾī told me; ʿUmar ibn Ḥafṣ the Sufi in Manbij related:

Ibn al-Mubārak set out from Baghdad intending al-Maṣīṣah, and a group of Sufis accompanied him. He said to them, “You are people of dignity who would feel awkward if someone spent on your behalf. Boy, bring the basin!”

He placed a cloth over it and then said, “Let each man put beneath the cloth whatever money he has.” One man dropped in ten dirhams, another twenty. He used that money to provide for them until they reached al-Maṣīṣah. Then he said, “This is a land where the troops assemble; let us divide what remains.” He began handing each man twenty dinars. Someone would protest, “Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, I only contributed twenty dirhams!”

He would reply, “And why should you doubt that Allah might bless the fighter’s provisions?” (1)

Al-Khaṭīb said: ʿUmar ibn Ibrāhīm and Abū Muḥammad al-Khallāl informed us, saying: Ismāʿīl ibn Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Kātib narrated to us; Aḥmad ibn al-Ḥasan the reciter narrated to us; I heard ʿAbd Allah ibn Aḥmad al-Dawraqī; I heard Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Shaqīq; I heard my father say:

Whenever the season of the pilgrimage arrived, his brothers from Merv would gather around Ibn al-Mubārak and say, “We wish to accompany you.”

He would reply, “Hand over your travel funds.” Then he would take what they gave, place it in a chest, and lock it. He would hire mounts for them, lead them from Merv to Baghdad, continually covering their expenses and feeding them the finest foods and sweetest delicacies. He would then have them leave Baghdad in the best attire and with perfect decorum. When they reached the City of the Messenger ﷺ, he would ask each one, “What did your family ask you to purchase for them from Medina—its special keepsakes and the like?”

The man would answer, “Such-and-such.” Then