In that same year al-Ḥusayn ibn Manṣūr al-Ḥallāj was brought to Baghdad, publicly paraded on a camel while a servant of his rode another camel. A crier walked before them proclaiming: “This man is one of the missionaries of the Qarmaṭians—take note of him!” He was first jailed and then summoned to the vizier’s council for questioning. It became clear that he did not recite the Qur’an, nor did he possess any knowledge of hadith, jurisprudence, language, historical reports, or poetry. What led to his arrest was the discovery of slips of paper in which he called people to misguidance and to jihad through cryptic symbols. He would often write in his letters: “Tabāraka dhū al-nūr al-shaʿshaʿānī” (“Blessed be the Possessor of the dazzling light”).

The vizier ʿAlī ibn ʿĪsā (may Allah have mercy on him) said to him: “Learning the rules of purification and the obligatory acts would benefit you far more than composing letters whose contents you yourself do not understand. How greatly you stand in need of proper discipline!” He then ordered that al-Ḥallāj be crucified alive—an exhibition crucifixion, not an execution—after which he was taken down and confined in the palace of the caliphate. There he affected the appearance of a man upon the sunnah and a zealously ascetic life, until many palace attendants and other ignorant commoners were deceived by him; they sought blessings from him and rubbed themselves against his clothes. The story of his affair will be related later, culminating in his execution with the unanimous concurrence of the jurists and most of the Sufis (1).

At the end of that year a very severe plague struck Baghdad, killing large numbers of people, especially in the Ḥarbiyyah quarter; most of its houses were shut down. The leader of the pilgrimage that year was al-Faḍl ibn ʿAbd al-Malik al-Hāshimī (2).

[Among the notable figures who died in this year]

• Ibrāhīm ibn Khālid al-Shāfiʿī (3), who combined learning with asceticism; among his pupils was Abū Bakr al-Ismāʿīlī (4).

• Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan ibn al-Mustafāḍ, Abū Bakr al-Firyābī, the judge of Dīnawar. He traveled widely in search of knowledge and heard a vast amount from many shaykhs, such as Qutaybah, Abū Kurayb, ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī, and Bundār. Related from him are Abū al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Munādī, al-Najjād, Abū Bakr al-Shāfiʿī, and a great many others. He eventually settled in Baghdad, and he was trustworthy, precise, and authoritative. Those who attended his sessions numbered about thirty thousand, the repeaters among them more than three hundred, and the students equipped with inkwells about ten thousand. He died in Muḥarram of this year at the age of four—