he was appointed as professor at the Niẓāmiyya in Baghdad. He debated skillfully, and he would admonish the people while drawn swords surrounded him. Ibn al-Jawzī said (1): “He was not proficient at preaching. His conduct (2) resembled that of viziers more than of scholars, and he enjoyed such favor with the sultans that they would act on his counsel. He died suddenly in Isfahān in this very year (3).”
Muḥammad ibn al-Mubārak ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Khall (4), Abū al-Ḥasan ibn Abī al-Baqāʾ, heard hadith, studied jurisprudence under al-Shāshī, taught, and issued fatwas. He passed away in Muḥarram of the present year.
Also deceased was his brother, Shaykh Abū al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Khall (5), the poet, in Dhū al-Qaʿdah of the same year.
Yaḥyā ibn ʿĪsā ibn Idrīs, Abū al-Barakāt al-Anbārī (6), the preacher: he recited the Quran, heard hadith, studied fiqh, and preached to the people in the manner of the righteous. From the moment he mounted the pulpit until he stepped down he would be in tears. He was an ascetic, devoted, and scrupulously pious man (7), enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong.
Allah blessed him with righteous children whom he named after the four caliphs—Abu Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān, and ʿAlī (8). He personally had each of them memorize the Quran (9) and enabled many others to complete it. He and his wife fasted continuously, spent the nights in prayer, and would not break their fast until after the ʿIshāʾ prayer (10). He enjoyed several extraordinary graces and uplifting dreams. When he died, his wife said, “O Allah, do not keep me alive after him.”
(1) Al-Muntazim, vol. 10, p. 179.
(2) Found only in the printed edition.
(3) Printed edition reads “fīhā” (in it).
(4) His biography appears in al-Muntazim (vol. 10, pp. 179–180); Ibn al-Athir (vol. 9, p. 52); Wafayat al-A'yan (vol. 4, p. 227); al-Ibar (vol. 4, p. 150); al-Wafi (vol. 4, p. 381); Tabaqat al-Subki (vol. 4, p. 96); al-Qamus (Khallal); and Mir'at al-Jinan (vol. 3, p. 302).
(5) He is mentioned in al-Muntazim (vol. 10, p. 180). Ibn Khallikan provides an entry (vol. 4, p. 227), naming him Ahmad ibn al-Mubarak, noting his birth in 482 AH, and including some of his poetry.
(6) His biography appears in al-Muntazim (vol. 10, p. 180).
(7) Variant: “'abidan zahidan” (devout and ascetic worshipper).
(8) Variant: “Abu Bakr, then 'Umar, then 'Uthman, then 'Ali.”
(9) Found only in the printed edition.
(10) These three practices contradict the Sunnah. Continuous fasting (sawm al-dahr) is disliked; the Prophet ﷺ forbade it, saying, “The most beloved fasting to Allah is the fast of Dawud (peace be upon him), who would fast one day and break the next.” He is not reported to have spent an entire night in prayer but would alternate between praying and sleeping. It is also Sunnah to hasten the breaking of the fast. In Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, Sahl ibn Sa'd al-Sa'idi (ra) narrated that the Prophet ﷺ said, “People will remain in goodness so long as they hasten to break the fast.” Ibn Khuzaymah and Ibn Hibban record in their Sahih works from Anas (ra): “I never saw the Prophet ﷺ perform the Maghrib prayer before breaking his fast, even if only with a sip of water.”