“O Lord—right here!”
It was decreed that he performed the pilgrimage that very year; while standing at ʿArafāt in a state of iḥrām, he passed away there at the close of the day. His body was washed, shrouded, and carried in circumambulation around the Kaʿbah (1), after which he was buried beside al-Fuḍayl ibn ʿIyāḍ, in the very spot where he used to draw that line with his staff.
When news of his death reached Baghdad, the people gathered to perform the funeral prayer in absentia. The crowd was so immense that, had he died in their midst, they could not have assembled a larger gathering than that (2). May Allah the Exalted have mercy on him.
ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm (3) ibn Saʿdawayh, Abū al-Fityān al-Dihistānī (4):
He traveled in search of ḥadith, journeyed across many lands, compiled and selected narrations, and possessed keen understanding in this field (5). He was reliable, and Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī (6) authenticated Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim through him (7). He died this year in Sarakhs (8).
Muḥammad (9), known as “the brother of Ḥammād” (10), was one of the great righteous men (11). Afflicted with a chronic illness, he saw the Prophet ﷺ in a dream (12) and was cured. Thereafter he remained devoted to his mosque for forty years, leaving it only for the Friday prayer, and refrained from mixing with people. He died this year and was buried in a corner near the mausoleum (13) of Abū Ḥanīfah.
(1) In the printed edition it reads “al-Bayt.”
(2) The phrase “with his stick up to here” is omitted in manuscript A.
(3) His biography is recorded in al-Muntaẓam (vol. 9, p. 164) and in Muʿjam al-Buldan under “Dihistan.” Dihistan is a district in Mazandaran near Khwarezm and Gurgan; it includes Abu al-Fityan—also called Abu Hafs ibn al-Hasan al-Rawasi al-Dihistani—and is mentioned in Ibn al-Athir (8/260), al-Lubab (as al-Dihistani), al-ʿIbar (4/6), and Mirʾat al-Jinan (3/173).
(4) I note that the printed edition reads “al-Dahiqani,” which is incorrect. (ʿA.)
(5) He refers to the sciences of the Prophetic hadith.
(6) This is one of the biographies in this work; he died in 505 AH, in this section.
(7) The printed edition reads “Kitab al-Sahihayn,” which is inappropriate; it should be omitted, as in al-Muntaẓam and al-Dhahabi’s Tarikh al-Islam (11/54), since the reference is to Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim. (Bashar)
(8) Sarakhs—also vocalized Sarakhas, though the former is more common—is a city in Khurasan between Nishapur and Marv. See Muʿjam al-Buldan and al-Qamus al-Muhit, which record it as Sarakhs with a fatḥa on both the sīn and rāʾ. (ʿA.)
(9) His biography appears in al-Muntaẓam (vol. 9, pp. 164–165).
(10) In manuscript A it reads “Muhammad,” known as al-Hamadi.
(11) The edition reads “kāna aḥad.”
(12) This appears only in the printed edition.
(13) The edition reads “qabr” (“grave”), which is in al-Aʿdhimiyya, the well-known suburb now contiguous with Baghdad.