Muḥammad ibn al-Fuḍayl ibn ʿIyāḍ said, “I saw Ibn al-Mubārak in a dream and asked him, ‘Which deed is the best?’
He replied, ‘The very work I was engaged in.’
I said, ‘Guarding the frontier and jihad?’
He answered, ‘Yes.’
I then asked, ‘And what has your Lord done with you?’
He said, ‘He has forgiven me with a forgiveness after which there is no further forgiveness.’

Two men transmitted this report from Muḥammad.

Al-ʿAbbās ibn Muḥammad al-Nasafī said: I heard Abū Ḥātim al-Farbarī say, “I saw Ibn al-Mubārak standing at the gate of Paradise with a key in his hand. I asked him, ‘Why are you standing here?’ He said, ‘This is the key to Paradise; the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—handed it to me and said, “Until I visit the Lord, be my trustee in heaven just as you were my trustee on earth.”’ ”

Ismāʿīl ibn Ibrāhīm al-Maṣṣīṣī said, “I saw al-Ḥārith ibn ʿAṭiyya in a dream and questioned him. He said, ‘I have been forgiven.’ I asked, ‘And Ibn al-Mubārak?’ He replied, ‘Wonderful, wonderful! He is in ʿIlliyyīn, among those who are admitted to Allah twice each day.’ ”

Nawfal said, “I saw Ibn al-Mubārak in a dream and asked him, ‘What has Allah done with you?’ He replied, ‘He forgave me because of my journeys in pursuit of hadith. Hold fast to the Qur’an, hold fast to the Qur’an.’ ”

ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad al-Sawwāq said: Zakariyyā ibn ʿAdī related to us, “I saw Ibn al-Mubārak in a dream and asked him, ‘What has Allah done with you?’ He said, ‘He forgave me because of my journeys.’ ”

Al-Nasāʾī said, “The most reliable narrator from al-Awzāʿī is ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak.”

Al-Fasawī states in his History: “I heard al-Ḥasan ibn al-Rabīʿ say: I was present at the death of Ibn al-Mubārak. He died after ten nights had passed of Ramaḍān in the year 181 AH, at the pre-dawn hour, and we buried him at Hīt.”

One of the eminent men composed:
“I passed by Ibn al-Mubārak’s grave at dawn—
it poured forth admonition though it utters not a word.”