Among the notable figures who died in this same year was the Byzantine emperor Theophilus son of Michael. His reign had lasted twelve years; after him the throne passed to his wife Theodora, for their son Michael son of Theophilus was still a minor (1).

During this year there also died Bishr al-Hafi, the celebrated ascetic (2). He was Bishr ibn al-Harith ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAṭāʾ ibn Hilāl ibn Māhān ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Marwazī, Abū Naṣr the ascetic, known as al-Hāfī, and a long-time resident of Baghdad. Ibn Khallikān says (3): “His grandfather’s name was ʿAbd Allāh al-Ghayyūr; he embraced Islam at the hands of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib.”

I say: He was born in Baghdad in 150 AH. There he heard a great many hadiths from Ḥammād ibn Zayd, ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak, Ibn Mahdī, Mālik, Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh, and others.

Many transmitted from him, among them: Abū Khaythamah Zuhayr ibn Ḥarb, Sarī al-Saqaṭī, al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAẓīm, and Muḥammad ibn Ḥātim.

Muḥammad ibn Saʿd said (4): “He heard extensively, then devoted himself to worship, secluded himself from people, and ceased narrating.”

More than one leading imam praised his devotion, asceticism, scrupulousness, piety, and austerity.

When news of his death reached Imām Aḥmad, he said: “He had no equal except ʿĀmir ibn ʿAbd Qays; had he married, his virtue would have been complete.” (5)

Ibrāhīm al-Ḥarbī said: “Baghdad has produced no one of sounder intellect or more guarded tongue than he. He was never known to backbite a Muslim, and in every strand of his hair there was intellect (6). Were his intellect to be divided among the people of Baghdad, they would all become rational, and yet nothing would be diminished of his own.” (7)