Others maintained that he passed away in 92 or 93 AH, while al-Madāʾinī voiced the more uncommon view that he died in 99 AH—and Allah knows best. (1)

Thus ends the author’s account (2) of ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn. I have, however, come across scattered sayings of his that are rich in wisdom, and I wished to set them down here in the hope that Allah will benefit whoever reads them:

Hafs ibn Ghiyāth related—through Ḥajjāj, from Abū Jaʿfar—that ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn said: “When a body never experiences illness, it becomes insolent and vain; there is no good in a body that grows insolent and vain.”

Abū Bakr ibn al-Anbārī narrated: Aḥmad ibn al-Ṣalt told us, Qāsim ibn Ibrāhīm al-ʿAlawī told us, my father told me, from Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad, from his father, that ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn said: “Being parted from loved ones is a kind of exile.”

He would also supplicate: “O Allah, I seek refuge in You lest my public face appear fair in people’s eyes while my inner self is ugly with hidden faults. O Allah, just as I have done wrong and You have shown me kindness, then if I relapse, show me kindness once again. O Allah, grant me the ability to assist those whose provision You have constrained, by means of what You have expanded for me of Your bounty.”

He once said to his son: “My boy, keep a separate cloth for relieving yourself, for I have seen flies land on filth and then on the garment.” He then reflected and added, “Yet the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and his Companions possessed only one garment each,” and he abandoned the idea.

Abū Ḥamzah al-Thumālī reported: I came to the door of ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn and disliked raising my voice, so I sat there until he emerged. I greeted him and prayed for him; he returned my greeting and prayed for me. When he reached a garden wall he said, “O Ḥamzah, do you see this wall?” I answered, “Yes.” He said, “I was leaning against it one day while grieving when a man of handsome face and fine clothes appeared, looking straight at me. He said, ‘O ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn, why do I see you downcast and sorrowful over the world? It is but immediate provision from which both the righteous and the wicked take their share.’ I replied, ‘It is not for the world that I grieve, for it is as you say.’ He asked, ‘Then is it the Hereafter? It is a true promise over which a Sovereign, All-Powerful, will rule.’ I said, ‘It is not for that that I grieve, for it is as you say.’ He said, ‘Then what is the cause of your sadness?’ I replied, ‘I fear the turmoil,’ meaning the uprising of Ibn al-Zubayr. He said, ‘O ʿAlī, have you ever seen anyone who asked Allah and He did not grant him?’ I said, ‘No.’ He said, ‘Or anyone who feared Allah and He did not suffice him?’ I said, ‘No.’ Then he disappeared from me, and it was said, ‘O ʿAlī, that was al-Khiḍr who came to you.’ (3) The mention of al-Khiḍr is an addition found in some chains of transmission.