That year as well, responsibility for the ḥajj rites and the Friday sermon remained with the Egyptians, as it had for many previous years.

The commander of the Iraqi caravan had resolved to return to Baghdad promptly by the same route they had taken out, refusing to proceed to the Prophet’s City for fear of Bedouin raids and the many levies exacted on the way. This pained the people greatly. The two Qur’an-reciters therefore stopped at the junction where the road branches toward Madinah and recited in unison:
“It is not for the people of Madinah or for the Bedouins around them to stay behind the Messenger of Allah, nor to prefer their own lives to his” (Qur’an 9:120), and the verses that follow. The crowd broke into tears; the camels stretched their necks toward the two men, and all the pilgrims [altogether] (1)—the commander included—turned as one toward the Prophet’s City. They entered, paid their respects, and then returned home safely, [and to Allah belong all praise and favor] (2).

When the two reciters came back, the ruler appointed them, along with Abū Bakr ibn al-Bahlūl—himself an accomplished reciter—to lead the people in the tarāwīḥ prayers during Ramaḍān. The congregation behind them grew large because of the beauty of their recitation; [they lengthened the prayer considerably, taking turns as imām, reciting about thirty verses in every rakʿah, and the worshippers would not leave the tarāwīḥ until the first third of the night, or nearly half of it, had passed] (3).

On one occasion Ibn al-Bahlūl was reciting in the Manṣūr Mosque the verse, “Has the time not yet come for those who believe that their hearts should humble themselves to the remembrance of Allah and to what has come down of the truth?” (Qur’an 57:16). A Sufi man, swaying, stood up and asked, “What did you just say?” Ibn al-Bahlūl repeated the verse. The Sufi cried, “Indeed, by Allah, it has!” and fell down dead, [(may Allah have mercy on him)] (4).

Ibn al-Jawzī relates: Something similar happened to Abū al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Khasshāb, the teacher of Ibn al-Raffāʾ and a disciple of Abū Bakr ibn al-Adamī, mentioned earlier (5). He, too, was a fine reciter with a beautiful voice. In the Rusāfa Mosque, during the night-vigil, Ibn al-Khasshāb recited that same verse: “Has the time not yet come for those who believe that their hearts should humble themselves to the remembrance of Allah and to what has come down of the truth?” (Qur’an 57:16). A Sufi present was overcome and said, “Yes, indeed it has come.” He sat down, wept for a long time, then fell silent; when they touched him they found he was dead—may Allah Most High have mercy on him (6).

Among those who died that year was al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl, Abū ʿAlī al-Iskāfī, known as al-Muwaffaq, who had enjoyed high favor with Bahāʾ