He was dark-skinned and tall, with the marks of smallpox on his face; generous and widely praised, fond of poets and lavish in rewarding them. He left six sons.

After him, authority passed to his brother ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad, and during his days al-Andalus was filled with turmoil and mischief until he himself perished, as will be mentioned later.

Among the notable figures who died in this same year were:

Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥajjāj (1) al-Marwazī, the close companion of Imām Aḥmad. He was one of the keen-witted leading scholars; Imām Aḥmad preferred him to all his other students, felt at ease with him, and would send him on errands, saying, “Say whatever you deem best.” He was the one who closed Imām Aḥmad’s eyes at death and was among those who washed his body. He transmitted many legal questions from Aḥmad and, after him (2), enjoyed great prestige: when he set out for Sāmarrāʾ intending to join a military expedition, fifty thousand men followed him.

Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ghālib (3) ibn Khālid ibn Mirdās, Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Bāhilī al-Baṣrī, better known as Ghulām Khalīl, who later lived in Baghdad. He narrated ḥadith from Sulaymān ibn Dāwūd al-Shādhakūnī, Shaybān ibn Farroḫ, Qurrah ibn Ḥabīb, and others; transmitting from him were Ibn al-Samāk, Ibn Makhlad, and others. Abū Ḥātim and others rejected certain reports he related—strange narrations from unknown teachers. Abū Ḥātim (4) said, “He was not one who invented ḥadith; he was a righteous man.” Abū Dāwūd (5) and more than one scholar, however, declared him a liar. Ibn ʿAdī reported (6) that he admitted fabricating ḥadith in order to soften people’s hearts.