Eighth – His Death and His Children

In the last years of his life, four years or more before his passing, al-Dhahabī lost his sight when a watery film (cataract) settled on his eyes. He would suffer and become irritated whenever someone said to him, “If you had it lanced, your eyesight would return,” replying, “This is not water; I know my own condition. My vision has been diminishing little by little until it has vanished completely.” (1)

He died at Turbat Umm al-Ṣāliḥ on the night of Monday, the 3rd of Dhū al-Qaʿdah, shortly before midnight, in 748 AH, and was buried in the Bāb al-Ṣaghīr cemetery. A number of scholars attended his funeral prayer, among them Tāj al-Dīn al-Subkī. (2) Several of his pupils composed elegies for him, including Ṣalāḥ al-Ṣafadī (3) and Tāj al-Dīn al-Subkī. (4)

Al-Dhahabī left three children who became known for their learning:

1 – His daughter Ummat al-ʿAzīz. At her father’s request several scholars granted her permission to transmit ḥadīth, among them the Shaykh of the Mustanṣiriyya, Rashīd al-Dīn Abū ʿAbd Allah Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Baghdādī, d. 707 AH. (5) It appears that she married during her father’s lifetime and left a son named ʿAbd al-Qādir.