ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz once said to Ibn Abī Mulaykah, “Give us a description of ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Zubayr.”

He replied, “By Allah, I have never seen skin set upon flesh, nor flesh upon sinew, nor sinew upon bone like his; nor have I ever seen a soul lodged between a man’s two sides like his soul. A brick hurled by a catapult once passed between his beard and his chest, yet by Allah he neither flinched nor interrupted his recitation, nor did he shorten the bowing he customarily performed. Whenever he entered the prayer he abandoned everything else for it. He would bow until the vultures were on the verge of settling upon his back, and when he prostrated he was like a discarded cloth. (1)

Abu’l-Qāsim al-Baghawī narrated, through ʿAlī ibn al-Jaʿd, from Shuʿbah, from Manṣūr ibn Zādhān, who said, “A man who had seen it told me that Ibn al-Zubayr used to drink while in prayer, and Ibn al-Zubayr was truly among the devoted worshippers.” (2)

[Ibn ʿAbbās was asked about Ibn al-Zubayr and said, “He was a reciter of the Book of Allah, a follower of the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah, devout to Allah, fasting in the scorching heat out of fear of Allah; the son of the disciple of the Messenger of Allah. His mother is the daughter of al-Ṣiddīq, and his aunt is ʿĀʾishah, the beloved of the Beloved of Allah, the wife of the Messenger of Allah. None but a person whose sight Allah has taken away can fail to recognize his due.”] (3)

It is related that Ibn al-Zubayr (4) was once praying when a snake fell from the ceiling, coiled itself around the belly of his son Hāshim, and the women shrieked. The people of the house were thrown into panic, gathered together, killed the snake, and saved the child—all while Ibn al-Zubayr remained in his prayer, never turning around nor realizing what had happened until he concluded with the salām.

Al-Zubayr ibn Bakkār said, “Muḥammad ibn al-Ḍaḥḥāk al-Khuzaʿī, ʿAbd al-Malik ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, and more of our companions than I can count informed me that Ibn al-Zubayr would fast continuously for seven days: he would fast on Friday and not break his fast until the following Friday night; he would fast in Madinah and not break his fast except in Mecca, and he would fast in Mecca and not break his fast except in Madinah. When he did break his fast, the first things he took were the milk of a she-camel, clarified butter, and aloe sap. In another version: the milk fortified him, the butter quenched his thirst, and the aloe opened his intestines. (5)

Ibn Maʿīn reported, through Rūḥ, from Ḥabīb ibn al-Shahīd, from Ibn Abī Mulaykah, who said, “Ibn al-Zubayr would fast continuously for seven days, and on the eighth morning he would be the strongest among us.” A similar report has come through several other chains.

And some said, “In the month of Ramadan he would eat only once, in the middle of the month.”