Muḥammad, the son of the Commander of the Faithful al-Muqtadī bi-Amr Allāh (1). He contracted smallpox and died at the age of nine. His father and the people were deeply grieved, and condolence gatherings were held, whereupon he sent word to them, saying, “We have in the Messenger of Allah a noble example, for his son Ibrāhīm passed away.” He also recited the verse: “Those who, when calamity befalls them, say, ‘Indeed we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we shall return.’ ” (Qur’an 2:156). He then dismissed the people, and they returned to their homes.

Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn Zayd ibn ʿAlī ibn Mūsā ibn Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (2), Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ḥusaynī, known as al-Murtaḍā Dhū al-Sharafayn. He was born in 405 AH in Baghdad and raised there. He heard a vast number of hadiths, read directly to the shaykhs, and kept company with the ḥadith-scholar Abū Bakr al-Khaṭīb, thereby acquiring a sound knowledge of hadith; al-Khaṭīb himself even heard from him some of his transmissions. He later moved to Samarqand and dictated hadith in Isfahan and elsewhere. He possessed complete intellect, virtue, and chivalry, and he enjoyed great wealth, extensive estates, and abundant prosperity. It is said that he owned forty villages. He was lavish in charity, beneficence, and support of scholars and the poor; the zakāt on his non-agricultural assets alone reached ten thousand dinars, not counting the tithe on his crops. He owned a garden unrivalled even by kings. The ruler of Transoxiana, Khidr ibn Ibrāhīm, asked to borrow it for recreation, but he refused, saying, “He only wants it to drink wine in, after it has been a refuge for people of knowledge, piety, and hadith.” The sultan turned away in anger and bore him a grudge. Later he summoned him, as was customary, to consult him on certain matters; when he arrived, he seized him, imprisoned him in his fortress, and confiscated all his property, lands, and possessions. He used to say, “Only by this confiscation has the authenticity of my lineage been confirmed, for I was reared in luxury and would tell myself, ‘Someone like me must inevitably be tested.’ ” They then withheld food and drink from him until he died—may Allah have mercy on him—in the fortress. He was taken out and buried there, and his grave is visited; may Allah honour his resting place.

Muḥammad ibn Hilāl ibn al-Muḥassin (3) ibn Ibrāhīm (4), Abū al-Ḥasan the Ṣābiʾ, surnamed Ghars al-Niʿma. He studied under his father and Abū ʿAlī ibn Shādhān, and he was renowned for abundant charity and beneficence. He appended a supplement to his father’s chronicle, which itself was a supplement to the chronicle of Thābit ibn Sinān, which in turn had supplemented al-Ṭabarī’s History. He founded a house in Baghdad and endowed within it four thousand volumes spanning various disciplines. At his death he left seventy thousand dinars. He was buried at the shrine of ʿAlī—may Allah be pleased with him—and may Allah have mercy upon him.