Yazīd al-Azdī says in his History: “He was scrupulously pious and virtuous; he performed ribāṭ (guard duty on the frontier) at Adhanah (1), and there he died in 263 AH (2).”

Their brother:

95 – Muḥammad ibn Ḥarb al-Ṭāʾī *

He passed away in the prime of his life, in 253 AH. ʿAlī composed an elegy for him, saying:

“The graceful lady said to me when she saw me …
about the tears that stream from my eyes—how could they not?
Within my breast are sighs of sorrow
that a frail body can scarcely bear.
After Muḥammad, shall I busy myself with anything
that might delight a neighbour or a casual guest?”

Al-Azdī relates: Ṣadaqah ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Ḥarb told me, “I asked my grandfather, ‘Why did you not compose an elegy for my uncle al-Ḥasan?’ He replied, ‘My boy, whenever I eulogise someone my grief subsides; I wanted my sorrow for him to remain.’ ”

ʿAlī also lamented his grandson:

“I see my fledglings making straight for decay,
while I wake like an eagle alone on the edge of the nest.
I escort them one after another to the grave
and return, having consigned each to the darkness of the tomb.
Whoever grieves at the loss of a comforter—
the loss of Abū Naṣr has torn the very entrails.
A boy whose face resembled the full moon;
he would grow in a single month as others do in a year.
And whenever some calamity constricted my chest,
I looked at him, and the anguish of the heart was lifted.”