During that same year al-Mahdi ordered regular stipends to be disbursed throughout every province and region to those afflicted with leprosy and to the incarcerated—an action of great reward and considerable generosity.

That year Ibrāhīm ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Manṣūr led the people in the pilgrimage.

Among the notable figures who died in that year was:

Ibrāhīm ibn Adham (1): one of the most celebrated devotees of worship and foremost exemplars of asceticism, whose aspiration in that path was lofty—may Allah have mercy on him. He was Ibrāhīm ibn Adham ibn Manṣūr ibn Yazīd ibn ʿĀmir ibn Isḥāq al-Tamīmī, also called al-ʿIjlī. Originally from Balkh, he later settled in Greater Syria, entered Damascus, and transmitted hadith from his father, al-Aʿmash, Muḥammad ibn Ziyād—the companion of Abū Hurayrah—Abū Isḥāq al-Sabīʿī, and many others. A large number narrated from him, including Baqiyyah, al-Thawrī, Abū Isḥāq al-Fazārī, and Muḥammad ibn Ḥimyar; al-Awzāʿī also cited him.

Ibn ʿAsākir (2) reports, through the chain of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Jazarī → al-Thawrī → Ibrāhīm ibn Adham → Muḥammad ibn Ziyād → Abū Hurayrah, who said:

“I entered upon the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) while he was praying seated. I said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, you are praying seated—what has happened to you?’ He replied, ‘Hunger, O Abū Hurayrah.’ I wept, and he said, ‘Do not weep, for the hardship of the Day of Resurrection will not befall the one who endured hunger seeking its reward in this worldly abode.’” (3)

Another route, narrated by Baqiyyah from Ibrāhīm ibn Adham—Abū Isḥāq al-Hamdānī told me, from ʿUmārah ibn Ghaziyyah, from Abū Hurayrah—states that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

“Indeed, a tribulation will come and will sweep the servants away wholesale, but the scholar will be saved from it by virtue of his knowledge.” (4)