He was fair-skinned and handsome, learned and imposing, imbued with piety and a sense of justice.
A boil appeared on his body, so he had a vein opened and lay down; the incision burst, a great deal of blood flowed out, and he grew weak as his strength ebbed away.
He was allotted a large share of worship, fasting, and standing in prayer at night. When he was restored to the caliphate it was said that he did not reclaim a single item that had been plundered from his palace, nor did he punish anyone who had harmed him; instead he sought the reward with Allah and bore it patiently.
He kept completely away from frivolous entertainments.
His caliphate lasted forty-five years.
He was washed for burial by the Hanbali shaykh Abū Jaʿfar ibn Abī Mūsā al-Hāshimī (2).
He lived seventy-six years, and after him allegiance was given to his grandson al-Muqtadī bi-Allah.
The viziers who served under al-Qāʾim were Abū Ṭālib Muḥammad (3) ibn Ayyūb, Abū ʼl-Fatḥ ibn Dārist (4), Abū ʼl-Qāsim ibn al-Muslima (5), and Abū Naṣr ibn Jahīr (6).
The power of the Buyids in his time was weak: Jalāl al-Dawla (7) ended up selling some of the very clothes he was wearing in Baghdad; he possessed little, his residence was empty of doorkeeper and attendant, the guard shifts at his gate ceased because the drummers had disappeared, and his troops rose against him, then relented out of pity. After that came the revolt of al-Basasīrī, and then the Seljuq state appeared, their first conquests being Khurasan and then the Jibal. They ruled harshly—plundering, killing, and perpetrating outrages—while they were