He then travelled to Baghdad, and the Caliph al-Qaʾim bestowed upon him the title “Master of the Viziers.” A adherent of the Muʿtazili school, he composed both poetry and prose (1). When Ṭughril Beg died, he served Alp Arslan as vizier for a short period before falling into disgrace.

It is related that the singer Bint al-Aʿrabi performed for him with her troupe (2). Delighted, he ordered two thousand dinars for her and granted other gifts besides. The following morning he remarked, “The expiation for last night’s gathering is that I give in charity an amount equal to what I spent yesterday.”

It is also said that, at the moment of his execution (3), he recited:

If people find it too narrow to compete with me (4),
then death has made the world broad enough for them all.
I depart while the spiteful loser trails behind me;
Each of us must drink from the cup (5) of death, draining it to the dregs.

How fortunate I am under the Seljuq rule! Ṭughril Beg granted me this world, and Alp Arslan has granted me the Hereafter.

He held the vizierate altogether for nine years; his property was confiscated, including three hundred mamluks. He was executed deliberately, his head paraded publicly. We know of no great wrongdoing on his part, but there is no curb on a king’s wrath.

He was killed at Marw al-Rudh in Dhū al-Ḥijjah 456 AH, at the age of forty-two (6).

It was said that he used to harass the Shāfiʿīs and was extreme in championing the school of Abū Ḥanīfah (7).