Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Zaynabī related to me, saying: Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Nūḥ reported: “We were in the house of the judge Abū al-Tāhir, reading to him. When we rose to depart, one of those present called out to me, ‘O Judge!’—for that was the title by which I was known. Abū al-Tāhir overheard this and sent his chamberlain, who asked, ‘Which of you is the judge?’ They pointed in my direction. When I entered, he said, ‘Are you the judge?’
‘Yes,’ I replied.
He asked, ‘Then what does that make me?’
I fell silent, then said, ‘It is merely a nickname of mine.’
He smiled and asked, ‘Have you memorised the Qur’an?’
‘Yes,’ I said.
He continued, ‘Tonight you will lodge with us—you and four others of your choosing, men whom you know to have memorised the Qur’an and possess refined manners.’

“I did as he instructed. We arrived at the time of the sunset prayer, and a variety of dishes and sweets was set before us, but the judge himself did not appear. Just as we were about to finish, he crawled out to us from behind a curtain and forbade us to stand, saying, ‘Eat with me, for I have not yet eaten. It is not right that you invite me and then let me dine alone.’ We realised that what had moved him to have us spend the night with him was the sorrow he felt for his son Abū al-ʿAbbās, who was away in Mecca.

“He then ordered one of us to recite, after which he summoned Ibn al-Maqāriʿī and told him to ‘say’—that is, to sing. A group of us rose and entered a state of rapt presence before him. He thereupon composed some lines on the spot, dictated them to Ibn al-Maqāriʿī, and he sang them:

‘O you who, after slaying me,
set out on the pilgrimage for Allah’s sake!’

“The judge wept bitterly, and his son returned only a few days later.”

These notes were transmitted by Amīn al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Shahīd from the autograph of ʿAbd al-Ghanī ibn Saʿīd, and this copy is taken from that manuscript.

Ibn Zulāq says in Judges of Egypt: “Al-Dhuhlī was born in Baghdad in Dhu al-Ḥijja of the year 279 AH. His father held the judgeship of Wāsiṭ, but he was dismissed on account of his son Abū al-Tāhir. Abū al-Tāhir told me that he acted as his father’s deputy in Basra in the year 294 AH …” until he says: “He was appointed judge of Damascus by order of Caliph al-Muṭīʿ, and he remained …”