—namely, through Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq son of Muḥammad al-Bāqir son of ʿAlī (1) son of al-Ḥusayn son of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib.

He said: Before that he had been poor, possessing nothing at all, (2) and Shaykh ʿAbd Allāh had a wife who in turn had a beautiful daughter. (3) The shaykh would say to her, “Marry her to Shaykh Muḥammad.” She would reply, “He is poor, and I want my daughter to be happy.” Shaykh ʿAbd Allāh would respond, “It is as though I can see (4) the two of them in a house blessed with abundant provision, while kings come and go to visit him.” So she married her to him, and events unfolded exactly as he had foretold. She was—may Allah have mercy on him—the first of his wives.

He also said: All the kings revered and honored him and travelled to his town, (5) the sons of al-ʿĀdil and others alike. Likewise, the leading jurists—Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ (6), Ibn ʿAbd al-Salām (7), Ibn al-Ḥājib (8), al-Ḥaṣīrī (9), Shams al-Dīn ibn Sanī al-Dawlah (10), Ibn al-Jawzī, and many more—venerated him and deferred to his opinion because of his learning, practice, piety, and trustworthiness. Numerous states, unveilings, and miracles have been recorded about him (may Allah have mercy on him), and some claimed that he had been the quṭb (11) for the past twelve years—but Allah knows best.

The jurist-shaykh related: (12) “On one occasion I resolved to travel to Harran after hearing that a man there possessed great mastery of the laws of inheritance. (13) On the night before my intended departure a letter reached me from Shaykh ʿAbd Allāh al-Yūnīnī, summoning me to the Noble Jerusalem. I felt some reluctance, but I opened the Qur’an and my eyes fell upon the verse: ‘Follow those who ask of you no reward and who are rightly guided’ [Yā Sīn 36:21]. So I set out with him for Jerusalem and, lo and behold, I found that very Harranian scholar in the Holy City. I studied the laws of inheritance with him until it seemed to me (14) that I had become more proficient in them than he was.”