Al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī (1) relates that Bishr had three sisters—Mukhah, Mudghah, and Zubdah—each of them a devout worshipper and ascetic like him, indeed even more scrupulous. One of them once requested an audience with Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal (may Allah have mercy on him) and said: “Sometimes my lamp goes out while I am spinning thread; if moonlight then appears I continue spinning in its light. When I sell the thread, must I distinguish between what was spun in lamplight and what was spun in moonlight?” He answered, “If there is any difference between the two, then inform the purchaser of it.”
She also said (2) to him, “One night the city patrol passed by with a torch, and I spun several skeins in its light; release me from the responsibility of that.” He instructed her to give all of that thread away in charity, because he could not determine the exact amount affected.
She asked him as well about a sick person’s groaning: “Is it considered complaining?” He replied, “No; it is only a complaint raised to Allah, Mighty and Majestic.” When she left, he said to his son ʿAbd Allah (3), “My son, go and find out who that woman is.” ʿAbd Allah said: “I followed her and saw her enter the house of Bishr the Barefoot; she was his sister—according to one report, she was Mukhah.”
Al-Khaṭīb (4) al-Baghdādī also transmits from Zubdah, who said: “One night my brother Bishr came home; he placed one foot inside the doorway while the other remained outside and stayed like that until dawn. When he was asked, ‘What were you pondering all night?’ he replied, ‘I was reflecting on Bishr the Christian, Bishr the Jew, Bishr the Zoroastrian, and on myself—my name is also Bishr. I asked myself, “What deed of yours preceded theirs so that He singled you out for Islam rather than them?” I contemplated His gracious favor toward me, praised Him for counting me among His chosen, and for clothing me in the garb of His beloved.’”
Ibn ʿAsākir (5) composed an extensive and delightful biography of him—long yet never wearisome. He cited a number of fine verses and noted that Bishr used to recite the following lines (6):
You shun the speck that floats upon water—yet you plunge into a pool of sins and drink your fill.
You choose the tastiest food to eat, forgetting to ask whether the chosen morsel was lawfully earned.
Poor man, you sleep upon soft cushions while within their stuffing a fire blazes against you.
How long will you stay in heedless folly? At seventy years of age you still toy with your religion. (7)