Al-Zuhrī said, “I have never seen a Qurayshite who was superior to him.” (1)

Al-Wāqidī observed, “He was among the most scrupulous, devoted, and God-fearing of people—Exalted is He. When he walked he would not swing his arms, and he wrapped a white turban around his head, letting its tail hang down behind him. His kunya was Abū al-Ḥasan; some said Abū Muḥammad, and others Abū ʿAbd Allāh. (2) He was present with his father on the day the latter was slain, being twenty-three years old and ill, so ʿUmar ibn Saʿd said, ‘Do not touch this sick man.’ (3)

Muḥammad ibn Saʿd stated, “He was trustworthy, reliable, transmitted numerous hadiths, possessed lofty standing, and was pious. His mother was Ghazālah; after al-Ḥusayn’s death his freedman Zuyyid (4) married her, and she bore him ʿAbd Allāh ibn Zuyyid—this is ʿAlī the Younger, whereas the elder was killed alongside his father. Others have said the same.”

Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib, Zayd ibn Aslam, Mālik, and Abū Ḥāzim declared, “There was none like him among the Household.” (5)

Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd al-Anṣārī said, “I heard ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn—the finest Hāshimite I ever met—say: ‘O people, love us with the love that belongs to Islam; your love for us has continued until it has become a reproach upon us.’ (6) In another version: ‘until you have made people hate us.’”

Al-Aṣmaʿī reported, “Al-Ḥusayn left descendants only through ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn, and ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn had offspring only through his cousin al-Ḥasan. Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam said to him, ‘If you were to take concubines, your children would become numerous.’ He replied, ‘I do not have the means for concubines.’ So Marwān advanced him one hundred thousand, with which he purchased concubines; they bore him children and his progeny multiplied. When Marwān fell ill he instructed that none of what he had lent to ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn be reclaimed from him. Thus all Husaynid descendants come from his line—may Allah have mercy on him. (7)”

Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah said, “The soundest of all chains of transmission is: al-Zuhrī — from ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn — from his father — from his grandfather.” (8)

They further relate that the house he was in once caught fire while he was standing in prayer; when he finished they asked, “Why did you not break off the prayer?” He replied, “I was too occupied with this fire to think of that other Fire.” (9)