his name is ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak, and the people surged toward him.
The woman exclaimed, “This is true kingship, not the rule of Hārūn al-Rashīd, who gathers people by whip and staff, by inducement and intimidation.”
On another occasion he set out for the pilgrimage. While passing through a certain land, a bird traveling with the caravan died. He ordered that it be thrown onto a nearby refuse-heap, and his companions went on ahead while he remained behind. As he passed the dump he saw a young girl come out of a nearby house, pick up the dead bird, wrap it, and hurry back inside. He followed her and asked about her situation and why she had taken the carcass.
She replied, “My brother and I have nothing here except this single cloth. Our only food is whatever is thrown onto this rubbish-heap, and carrion has become lawful for us these past days. Our father once possessed wealth, but he was wronged, his property confiscated, and he was killed.”
Ibn al-Mubārak immediately ordered the loads to be turned back and said to his steward, “How much money do you have with you?”
“A thousand dinars,” he answered.
He said, “Count out twenty dinars for our expenses until Marw and give her the rest. That is better for us than making the Hajj this year.” He then returned home.
Whenever he intended the pilgrimage he would tell his companions, “Whoever among you wishes to perform Hajj this year, let him bring me his funds so that I may spend on his behalf.” He would take their money, write each man’s name on his purse, place the purses in a chest, and set out with them, providing the most generous provisions, mounts, courtesy, and ease.
After they had completed the rites he would ask, “Have your families requested any gifts?” He would then purchase for each one whatever his family had asked—Meccan, Yemeni, or other goods. When they reached Madinah he bought for them gifts particular to the city. On the journey home he would send men ahead to their houses so that they might be repaired, their doors whitewashed, and their deficiencies mended. Upon reaching their town he prepared a banquet, invited them to eat, clothed them, then brought out the chest, opened it, and handed each man the purse bearing his name, insisting that he take back his entire sum. They would depart for their homes spreading praise and gratitude.
His travelling provisions alone filled a single camel: meat, chicken, sweets, and every variety of food. Yet he would feed the people while remaining constantly in a state of fasting, even in the fiercest heat.
A beggar once asked him for alms and he gave him one dirham. A companion remarked, “These people eat roast meat and fālūdhaj (a rich sweet); a small piece would have sufficed him.”
He replied, “By Allah, I assumed he ate only greens and bread. If he eats fālūdhaj and roast meat, one dirham will not suffice him.” He then ordered a servant, “Bring him back and give him ten dirhams.”
His virtues, merits, and noble deeds are far too numerous to list.
Abū ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-Barr said, “The scholars unanimously agree on accepting him—on his eminence, his leadership, and his integrity.”
ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak died in this same year, in the month of Ramadan, at the age of sixty-three, in Hit (1).