Among those who died during the caliphate of Hisham ibn ʿAbd al-Malik, as recorded by Ibn ʿAsakir, was

Bilal ibn Saʿd (1) ibn Tamim al-Sakuni, Abū ʿAmr—some say Abū Zurʿa—the imām of the Great Mosque of Damascus in Hisham’s time and the principal preacher of the Syrians. He was counted among the foremost ascetics, a devout worshipper who fasted frequently and spent the nights in prayer.

He transmitted hadith from his father—who had been a Companion—as well as from Jabir, Ibn ʿUmar, Abū al-Dardaʾ, and others. A number of scholars narrated from him, among them Abū ʿAmr al-Awzāʿī. Al-Awzāʿī used to record the weighty gems of benefit he heard from Bilal’s stories and admonitions, and he said, “I have never seen an exhorter like him.” He also said, “I have not heard of anyone whose worship equalled what I heard about him. He would perform one thousand rakʿahs (units of prayer) in a single day and night.”

Another authority—al-Aṣmaʿī—stated: “When drowsiness overtook him on a winter night, he would fling himself, clothed, into the pond.” One of his companions reproached him for this, and he replied, “The water of the pond is easier to bear than the pus of Hell.”

Al-Walīd ibn Muslim said: “When he pronounced the opening takbīr in the miḥrāb, people in al-Awzāʿ could hear it.”

I say: al-Awzāʿ lies outside Bāb al-Farādīs, in what is today the Suq Qumayla district.

He (al-Walīd) also said: “We could distinguish his recitation from ʿAqabah al-Shaykh by Dār al-Ḍiyāfah (2),” that is, from the vicinity of Dār al-Dhahab inside Bāb al-Farādīs.

Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-ʿIjli—a Syrian—said: “He is a trustworthy Successor (tābiʿī).”

Abū Zurʿa al-Dimashqi said: “He was one of the scholars and an accomplished storyteller,” and Rajāʾ ibn… accused him.