Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā ⦗1⦘: Abū Saʿīd, a resident of Damascus. He related hadith from Ibrāhīm ibn Saʿīd al-Jawharī, Aḥmad ibn Manīʿ, Ibn Abī Shaybah, and others, while Abū Bakrah al-Naqqāsh and many others transmitted from him. This Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā was nicknamed “the man who carried his own shroud.” The reason, as al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī ⦗2⦘ reports, is as follows:
“It reached me that he died, was washed, shrouded, the funeral prayer was offered over him, and he was buried. During the night a grave-robber came, opened the grave, and when he loosened the shroud Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā sat upright. The grave-robber fled in terror ⦗3⦘. Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā then rose, gathered up his shroud, left the grave, and headed for his house. He found his family weeping for him and knocked at the door.
‘Who is it?’ they asked.
He replied, ‘It is so-and-so.’
They said, ‘Good man, do not add grief to the grief we already feel.’
He insisted, ‘Open up—by Allah, it is I, so-and-so.’ Recognizing his voice, they opened the door; when they saw him they were overjoyed ⦗4⦘, for Allah had turned their sorrow into happiness. He then told them what had happened. Apparently he had suffered a seizure and had not truly died. By His power Allah caused that grave-robber to open the grave, and this became the means for his renewed life, which lasted for some time thereafter. He finally passed away in this very year.
Fāṭimah the chamberlainess ⦗5⦘: At one point the caliph al-Muqtadir grew angry with her and confiscated her property, including two hundred thousand dinars. She later drowned this year in a pleasure-boat ⦗6⦘ of hers.
[Then came the year 300 AH of the Prophetic Hijrah.]
In that year: The waters of the Tigris rose, heavy rains overwhelmed Baghdad, and on the night of Wednesday—with seven days remaining of Jumādā al-Ākhirah—many meteors flashed across the sky.
That same year: Illnesses, ailments, and pains spread through Baghdad; dogs became rabid, and even the desert wolves were afflicted. They attacked people and livestock alike, and whomever they bit died.
In that year as well: A mountain near Dīnawar known as “the Hill” caved in, whereupon a great spring gushed forth and drowned a number of villages.
And in that year: A section of Mount Lebanon broke away and tumbled into the sea.