He had one of the finest voices for the recitation of the Quran; on some nights the inhabitants of Kalwadhā (1) could hear his voice all the way from Baghdad. He once performed the pilgrimage with Abū al-Qāsim al-Baghawī. When they reached Madinah, they found a blind shaykh relating fabricated stories to the people. Al-Baghawī said, “We ought to denounce him.” One of the group replied, “You are not in Baghdad, where the people recognise you, and the crowd here is large. I think you should ask Abū Bakr al-Adamī to recite for us here (2).” So he began the recitation, whereupon the people rushed toward him, abandoning the blind man until no one remained with him. The blind man took his guide’s hand and said, “Lead me away—thus do blessings fade (3).”

He died on Wednesday, with two nights remaining of Rabīʿ al-Awwal in this year, at the age of eighty-eight.

Some time after his death a man saw him in a dream and asked, “How did your Lord deal with you?” He replied, “He made me stand before Him, and I endured hardships.” I said, “And what of those nights, those gatherings and your recitation?” He answered, “Nothing harmed me more than they did; they were for this world.” I asked, “What, then, was the outcome?” He said, “Allah—exalted is He—told me: I have sworn by Myself that I will not punish anyone who has reached the age of eighty.”

Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī (4) ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Ibrāhīm Ṭabāṭabā (5) ibn Ismāʿīl ibn Ibrāhīm ibn al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, a Hāshimī from Egypt, was counted among its nobles, generous hosts, and men of munificence. Sweetmeats were continually being prepared in his house, and every day a man could be seen at his gate cracking almonds for them. People had fixed allowances of those confections from him: some received them every day, some every Friday, and others once a month (6). For Kāfūr al-Ikhshīdī he provided each day two bowls and a loaf of the finest white bread (7).

When al-Muʿizz the Fāṭimid arrived in Cairo, Abū Muḥammad went out to greet him and asked, “To which branch of the Prophet’s Household do you trace your lineage?” He replied, “The answer lies with the people of this land (8).” After entering the palace he gathered the noble descendants, half-drew his sword and said, “This is my lineage,” then scattered gold over them, saying, “And this is my proof.” They replied, “We hear and obey.”

The sound view is that the one who spoke these words to al-Muʿizz was this man’s son—or another sharif—and Allah knows best, for this man died in