—such is true asceticism. He never married, so far as I know, and the purity of his intention in the pursuit of knowledge made his books famous throughout the world: al-Muhadhdhab (1), al-Tanbīh (2), al-Lumaʿ fī Uṣūl al-Fiqh (3), the Commentary on the Lumaʿ, al-Maʿūna on Dialectics, al-Mulakhkhaṣ fī Uṣūl al-Fiqh, and other works besides.
Among his poetry:
“I love the goblet though it holds no wine,
And pass the time with numbers, free of crime.
It is not lewdness that my heart pursues—
I merely find that love befits the noble few.”
He also said:
“I asked the people for a loyal, faithful friend;
They answered, ‘There is no road to such an end.’
Hold fast, if ever you win the affection (4) of a freeborn soul,
For freeborn men upon this earth are few (5).”
ʿĀṣim ibn al-Ḥasan likewise composed verses about him:
(1) Published in Egypt in 1323 AH; it has many commentaries, the most celebrated being Imam al-Nawawi’s al-Majmu.
(2) Published at the Maimaniyya Press in Egypt, 1329 AH.
(3) Published at the Saada Press, Cairo, 1326 AH. Further printed works by the author include his Risala on ethics and at-Tibb al-Ruhani, a collection of moral exhortations, as noted by Sarkis, Muʿjam al-Matbuʿat, pp. 1171-1172; neither title appears in the standard biographical sources or in Kashf al-Zunun. Other editions: Tabaqat al-Fuqaha, ed. Ihsan Abbas, Beirut 1970; and at-Tabsira fi Usul al-Fiqh, ed. Muhammad Hasan Hitu, Damascus, Dar al-Fikr, 1980.
(4) Wafayat al-Ayan and al-Bidaya record it with the variant word bidhayl.
(5) The two verses are also found in: Tabyin Kadhib al-Muftari, p. 278; al-Muntazam, 9/8; Wafayat al-Ayan, 1/29; al-Mukhtasar, 2/194; al-Bidaya, 12/125; al-Wafi, 6/66; al-Subki’s Tabaqat, 4/224; al-Isnawi’s Tabaqat, 2/83; an-Nujum az-Zahira, 5/118; and al-Fath al-Mubin, 1/256.