That year the pilgrims were led by Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿĪsā ibn Abī Jaʿfar al-Manṣūr.

Among the pilgrims was Abū Aḥmad ibn al-Mutawakkil. He left the caravan early and hurried on to Sāmarrāʾ, entering it on the night of Wednesday, with thirteen days of Dhu al-Ḥijja still remaining that year.

[Among the notable persons who died in this year]

• The caliph al-Muhtadī billah, in Rajab, as mentioned above.

• Al-Zubayr ibn Bakkār (1): ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muṣʿab ibn Thābit ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām, the Qurashī al-Zubayrī, judge of Mecca. He travelled to Baghdad and taught hadith there. He authored the book “Ansāb Quraysh,” and (2) was counted among the foremost specialists in that field; his work is exceptionally comprehensive. Ibn Mājah and others transmitted from him. Al-Dāraqūṭnī and al-Khaṭīb (3) deemed him trustworthy and spoke highly of him and of his book. He died in Mecca in Dhu al-Qaʿda of this year at the age of eighty-four, and was buried there—may Allah have mercy on him.

• Al-Bukhārī, author of the Ṣaḥīḥ (4). We provided a full biography of him at the beginning of our commentary on his Ṣaḥīḥ; here we shall offer a brief synopsis, and with Allah lies the aid:

He is Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl ibn Ibrāhīm ibn al-Mughīra ibn Bardizbah (5) al-Juʿfī by allegiance, Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Bukhārī the ḥāfiẓ, the foremost scholar of hadith of his time, the model to be followed in his age (6), and pre-eminent over all his peers and contemporaries. His book al-Ṣaḥīḥ is so blessed that rain is sought through its recitation, and the Muslims are unanimous in accepting it and in affirming the soundness of what it contains.

Al-Bukhārī—may Allah have mercy on him—was born on the night of Friday, the thirteenth of Shawwāl in the year 194 AH, and his father died while he was