—Abū ʿAbd Allah al-Rūdhbārī (1) transmitted a large number of hadiths and spoke in the idiom of the Sufis. He had left Baghdad and settled in Ṣūr (Tyre), and there he died in the course of this year (2).
Ahmad ibn Zakariyya (3), Abū al-Ḥusayn the lexicographer, author of the book al-Mujmal on the language and other works. Two days before his death he composed the following verses:
O Lord, my sins You have encompassed in Your knowledge—
regarding me, my public deeds, and my secret ones;
I affirm Your oneness, yet I confess those sins,
so pardon my sins for the sake of my tawḥīd and my admission.
So reports Ibn al-Athir.
al-Ḥusayn (4) ibn ʿAlī (5), Abū ʿAbd Allah al-Baṣrī, one of the senior Muʿtazilite scholars, known as al-Juʿal. He settled in Baghdad, adopted the doctrine of the Iraqis, and authored works on behalf of the Muʿtazila. In the branches of jurisprudence he studied under Abū al-Ḥasan al-Karkhī (6), beside whom he was buried. He was close to eighty years of age.
Ḥasanawayh ibn al-Ḥasan the Kurd, the ruler of those regions, was—as noted earlier (7)—extremely generous in charity. May Allah, exalted is He, have mercy on him.
(1) His biography was previously given under the year 322 AH in al-Wafayāt.
(2) In the Ṭāʾ edition there is an addition: “I saw in a dream as though someone asked, ‘What is most valid in prayer?’ I replied, ‘The soundness of intention (al-qasd).’ Then I heard a voice saying, ‘The vision (ruʾya) of the intended goal (al-maqṣūd), if one forgoes the vision of intention (ruʾyat al-qasd), is more perfect.’ He also said, ‘Sitting in the company of opponents (al-aḍdād) melts the soul, while sitting with the learned (al-ashkāl) fertilizes the intellect; yet not everyone fit for mere company (majālisah) is fit for close companionship (muʾānasa), nor is everyone fit for companionship to be entrusted with secrets—only the trustworthy (al-umnāʾ) may hold secrets.’ And he added, ‘Khushūʿ (humility) in prayer is the sign of success, as Allah says: “Successful indeed are the believers—those who are humble in their prayers” (Q 23:1–2); whereas abandoning khushūʿ in prayer is a sign of hypocrisy and the ruin of the heart, for He says, “Indeed, the disbelievers will not succeed” (Q 23:3).’
(3) See al-Kāmil, vol. 8, p. 711. He is also mentioned by Ibn Kathīr in his Wafayāt under this year, following Ibn al-Jawzī in al-Muntaẓam, vol. 7, p. 103. According to al-Ṣaḥīḥ, he died in 395 AH; his biography will appear under that year in al-Wafayāt.
(4) His biography was omitted in the Ṭāʾ edition. In the Ḥāʾ and Bāʾ editions it appears under the erroneous name al-Ḥasan; the correct reading is established in al-Muntaẓam, vol. 7, p. 101, and Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ, vol. 16, pp. 224–225.
(5) References: al-Imtāʿ wa-l-Muʾānasa, vol. 1, p. 140; Tārīkh Baghdād, vol. 8, pp. 73–74; Ṭabaqāt al-Fuqahāʾ (al-Shīrāzī), p. 143; al-Muntaẓam, vol. 7, p. 101; Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ, vol. 16, pp. 224–225; Lisān al-Mīzān, vol. 2, p. 303; al-Nujūm al-Zāhira, vol. 4, p. 135; Shudhūr al-Dhahab, vol. 3, p. 68.
(6) In the Ḥāʾ edition his name appears as Abū al-Ḥusayn, a scribal error; the correct reading is confirmed in the Bāʾ edition. His biography was given under the year 340 AH in al-Wafayāt.
(7) See the section “Events of this Year.”