he would take them on to Mecca. Once they had completed their pilgrimage he would ask each man, “What did your family tell you to buy for them from the goods of Mecca?”
The man would reply, “Such-and-such.”
He would purchase it for him, after which he would lead the whole group out of Mecca, still meeting every expense until they reached Marw. There he would have their houses and doors freshly plastered. Three days later he would hold a banquet for them and provide them with new clothes. When they had eaten and rejoiced, he would call for the chest, open it, and hand every man his purse with his name written on it.

My father said: His servant informed me that on the last journey Ibn al-Mubārak made he hosted a feast, setting before the guests twenty-five trays of falūdhaj, a rich sweet dish. We were told that he said to al-Fuḍayl, “Had it not been for you and your companions, I would never have engaged in trade.”

Each year he spent one hundred thousand dirhams on the poor. (1)

ʿAlī ibn Khushram relates: Salamah ibn Sulaymān told me:
A man came to Ibn al-Mubārak and asked him to clear a debt he owed. Ibn al-Mubārak thereupon wrote a note to one of his agents on the man’s behalf. When the agent received the letter he asked, “How much is the debt you asked him to pay?”
The man answered, “Seven hundred dirhams.”
Yet ʿAbd Allāh had written that he be given seven thousand dirhams. The agent raised the matter, saying, “The revenues have been exhausted.”
ʿAbd Allāh wrote back, “If the revenues have been exhausted, then life itself is likewise being exhausted. So carry out what my pen has already decreed.” (2)

Muḥammad ibn al-Mundhir said: Yaʿqūb ibn Isḥāq narrated to me; Muḥammad ibn ʿĪsā narrated to me:
Ibn al-Mubārak used to travel frequently to Tarsus, lodging in a caravanserai in ar-Raqqah. A young man would come to him there, take care of his needs, and listen to hadith from him. On one occasion ʿAbd Allāh arrived but did not find the youth. He hurried off with the levy, and when