Abū Jaʿfar al-Manṣūr

Isrāʾīl ibn Yaḥyā ibn Yazīd al-Ardabīlī related to me in Ḥulwān: ʿIṣma ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Ardabīlī related to us: Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm al-Baghdādī related to us, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mālik ibn Mighwal, who said: Abū Jaʿfar al-Manṣūr summoned Abū Ḥanīfa—may God have mercy on him—to Baghdad and asked him to undertake the judiciary, with judges appointed under his authority throughout the districts of Islam. He offered various excuses and did not accept. Abū Jaʿfar swore a solemn oath that if he did not accept, he would imprison him and treat him severely. Abū Ḥanīfa—may God have abundant mercy on him—refused. He ordered him imprisoned and would send word to him there: ‘If you agree and accept what I asked of you, I will release you from prison and honor you.’ He refused most firmly. He ordered that he be brought out every day and given ten lashes. He was brought out and beaten daily. After the beatings continued over those days, he wept and prayed much. Only a short time passed before he died in prison, afflicted with an abdominal illness and exhausted. His funeral bier was brought out, and people wept greatly for him. The funeral prayer was offered over him, and he was buried in the al-Khayzurān cemetery.