ʿAbbās al-Ṭāliqānī, a man of letters, an accomplished writer, and vizier to the ruler Muʾayyad al-Dawlah Buwayh son of Rukn al-Dawlah.

He served under the vizier Abū al-Faḍl b. al-ʿAmīd, and for that reason became famous as “al-Ṣāḥib.” (1)

He heard traditions from Abū Muḥammad b. Fāris in Isfahan, from the judge Aḥmad b. Kāmil, and from a number of scholars in Baghdad.

Those who transmitted from him include Abū al-ʿAlāʾ Muḥammad b. Ḥussūl, ʿAbd al-Malik b. ʿAlī al-Rāzī, Abū Bakr b. Abī ʿAlī al-Dhakwānī, Abū al-Ṭayyib al-Ṭabarī, and Abū Bakr b. al-Muqriʾ—his own former teacher.

Among his writings are: in lexicography, al-Muḥīṭ in seven volumes; al-Kāfī fī al-Tarassul; and the book al-Imāmah, in which he records the merits of Imam ʿAlī while also affirming the imamate of those who preceded him.

He was a Shiʿi Muʿtazili innovator—haughty, arrogant, and overbearing. It is reported that when al-Bukhārī was mentioned to him he retorted, “And who is al-Bukhārī?! A vulgar literalist on whom no reliance should be placed.”

He was deposed and exiled, then reinstated to the vizierate, where he remained for 18 years.

For his patron Fakhr al-Dawlah he captured 50 fortresses.

Ibn al-Najjār composed an extensive biography of him.

He was eloquent yet affected; in his addresses he strove after rare expressions, and he loathed self-importance,