It is also said that he died still retaining his milk teeth, which had remained fused together. He was of imposing stature—large and heavy-set. When al-Saffāḥ passed away, he and his brother ʿAbdullāh rebelled against al-Manṣūr, but Abū Muslim al-Khurasānī fought them. The days continued to toss him about, yet he is alive to the present moment (1); Hārūn al-Rashīd honors and respects him.

He has governed Damascus, Basra, and other districts besides.

Those who narrated from him include his son Ismāʿīl, as well as ʿAbd al-Wāḥid and Yaʿqūb—the two sons of Jaʿfar, son of his brother Sulaymān ibn ʿAlī. We heard one hadith of his in the Banyās collection on honoring witnesses (2); it is rejected, being transmitted by ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn Mūsā al-Hāshimī, commander of the pilgrimage, from his uncle Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm, from him, from his father, from his grandfather.

In the multiplicity of noble lines that converged in his ancestry he resembled the caliph Yazīd and Saʿīd ibn Zayd—one of the Ten promised Paradise. In later life he lost his sight, as did his father and grandfather.

His mother was Kathīrah, the woman eulogized by Ibn Qays al-Ruqayyāt (3), who said:
“Delight returned to him at the thought of Kathīrah—
and his eyes streamed with tears.”