and Abū al-Rabīʿ al-Zahrānī (1); ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Jaʿfar al-Madīnī (2), al-Bukhārī’s mentor in the science of hadith; Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Numayr (3); Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr al-Muqaddamī (4); al-Muʿāfā al-Rasʿanī (5); and Yaḥyā ibn Yaḥyā al-Laythī, the transmitter of the Muwaṭṭaʾ to the people of the Maghrib from Imām Mālik ibn Anas (6).
Then the year 235 AH began.
In Jumada al-Ākhir of that year Itākh perished in prison. After returning from the Hajj—where the caliph’s gifts had greeted him—he approached Sāmarrāʾ, seat of the Commander of the Faithful. At the caliph’s order, Ishāq ibn Ibrāhīm, the deputy governor of Baghdad, summoned him there so that the leading men of Banū Hāshim might come out to welcome him. He entered the city in great pomp, whereupon Ishāq arrested him, together with his two sons, Muẓaffar and Manṣūr, and his secretaries, Sulaymān ibn Wahb and Qudāmah ibn Ziyād the Christian, who embraced Islam under torture.
Itākh died of thirst: after suffering intense hunger he ate a large quantity of food, then asked for water but was refused. He passed away on the night of Wednesday, five days into Jumada al-Ākhir of that same year. His two sons remained in prison for the rest of al-Mutawakkil’s caliphate; when his son al-Muntaṣir succeeded to the throne, he ordered their release.
(1) Sulaymān ibn Dāwūd al-Azdī al-ʿAtakī, known as Abū al-Rabīʿ al-Zahrānī al-Baṣrī, was a ḥāfiẓ (hadith memorizer) and qāriʾ (Qurʾān reciter), counted among the thiqāt (trustworthy transmitters) and a leading muḥaddith (hadith scholar). References: Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ, vol. 10, p. 676; Ṭabaqāt al-Qurrāʾ, vol. 1, p. 313.
(2) Abū al-Ḥasan al-ʿAmīr al-Muʾminīn fī al-Ḥadīth, author of several taṣānīf. Al-Bukhārī remarked, “I never deemed myself insignificant before anyone except ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī.” He was regarded as more knowledgeable than Imam Aḥmad in hadith criticism. References: Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ, vol. 11, p. 41; al-ʿAlām, vol. 4, p. 303.
(3) Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Hamadhānī al-Kūfī, one of the imams, was transmitted by the principal scholars (al-jamāʿa). He excelled in both knowledge and practice, was deemed trustworthy, and his hadith are cited as evidence. References: Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ, vol. 11, p. 455; al-ʿIbar, vol. 1, p. 418.
(4) Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿAṭāʾ ibn Muqaddam al-Thaqafī, known as Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Muqaddamī al-Baṣrī, was declared reliable by Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn and Abū Zurʿa, both counted among the “Eighty.” Reference: Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ, vol. 10, p. 660.
(5) al-Muʿāfā ibn Sulaymān al-Rasʿanī, a muḥaddith known as Raʾs al-ʿAyn, was a ḥāfiẓ and highly truthful (ṣidqūq). Reference: Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ, vol. 11, p. 121.
(6) Yaḥyā ibn Yaḥyā ibn Kathīr, known as Abū Muḥammad al-Laythī al-Barbarī, was an Andalusī jurist of Cordoba. In the final years of Imam Mālik’s life he traveled East and studied the Muwattaʾ from him, except for certain chapters. He enjoyed high rank, immense dignity, and unmatched authority. Reference: Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ, vol. 10, p. 519.