Ibn Khallikān (1) relates that one of Abū Dulāmah’s sons once fell ill, so a physician treated him. When the boy regained his health, Abū Dulāmah said to the doctor, “We have nothing to give you. Instead, sue such-and-such the Jew for the sum you are owed, and my son and I will testify to the amount you claim.”

The physician went to the qāḍī of Kufa, Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Laylā—some say it was Ibn Shubrumah—lodged his complaint, and the Jew denied it. Abū Dulāmah and his son then bore witness for the doctor. The judge could not reject their testimony and, fearing a request for tazkiyah (2) of the witnesses, paid the physician out of his own purse, released the Jew, and thus satisfied all parties.

Abū Dulāmah died in this same year, though it is also said that he lived long enough to witness Hārūn al-Rashīd’s accession in the year seventy. Allah knows best.

Then came the year 162 AH. During it, ʿAbd al-Salām ibn Hāshim al-Yashkurī rose in revolt in the region of Qinnasrīn. A great many people followed him and his strength became formidable. Several commanders fought him but could not overcome him, so al-Mahdī dispatched armies against him and lavished funds upon them. He defeated those forces repeatedly, but the matter eventually ended with his death.

That same year al-Ḥasan ibn Qaḥṭaba led the ṣāʾifa (summer campaign) with eighty thousand salaried troops, not counting the volunteers. He ravaged the Byzantines, burned many towns, ruined a number of places, and captured a multitude of children. Likewise, Yazīd ibn Asīd al-Sulamī invaded Byzantine territory from the Bāb of Qālīqālā (3); he returned safe and victorious, laden with spoils and many captives.

In that year as well, a faction in Jurjān donned red garments under a leader called ʿAbd al-Qahhār. ʿUmar ibn al-ʿAlāʾ of Ṭabaristān marched against them, defeated ʿAbd al-Qahhār, and killed him together with his followers.