Ibn Abī al-Mawwal reported it that way; however, the correct name is Ibn al-Muʾammal, ʿAbd Allāh al-Makkī. The ḥadīth is known with this chain, and he is counted among the weak transmitters, even though he narrates it from Abū al-Zubayr on the authority of Jābir. In any case, Ibn al-Mubārak’s report is a solitary, munkar narration; no one relates it except Suwayd, and it was transmitted by al-Mayānajī from Ibn ʿAbbād.

Abū Aḥmad Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb said: I heard al-Khalīl Abū Muḥammad say, “Whenever ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak set out for Mecca he would recite:

Disgust for life and awe of God have driven me out,
I bartered my soul for what no price can ever match.
I weighed the everlasting to balance the fading world—
by God, it proved so light it could not tip the scale. (1)

Nuʿaym ibn Ḥammād said: Whenever Ibn al-Mubārak read the Book of al-Riqāq (Softening the Hearts), he would weep until he seemed like a slaughtered bull—or a slaughtered cow—from the intensity of his crying. None of us dared ask him about anything; anyone who tried he would simply wave away. (2)

Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzī related: ʿAbdah ibn Sulaymān al-Marwazī told us, “We were part of a military detachment with Ibn al-Mubārak in Byzantine territory. We encountered the enemy, and when the two lines faced one another a man from the enemy came forward and demanded single combat. A Muslim stepped out and killed him—then a second, and he killed him—then a third, and he killed him. The enemy fighter challenged again; another Muslim came out, pursued him for a while, thrust his spear into him, and killed him. People crowded around the victor, and when I looked, it was ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak. He was covering his face with his sleeve. I seized the edge of his sleeve and pulled it back—lo, it was he. He said, “And you—”