of jurisprudence, and he was a scrupulous, ascetic, God-fearing man, sound in his rulings. He held the office of Chief Judge after Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Dāmghānī for a time, until the Commander of the Faithful al-Muqtadī turned against him and forbade the witnesses to attend his court for a period. Yet he would say, “I shall not resign so long as no act of open iniquity has been proven against me.” Al-Muqtadī later relented and bestowed upon him a robe of honor (1).

Al-Mashṭab al-Farghānī (2) once came to testify before him, but he rejected his testimony because the man was wearing silk. The witness protested, “You reject me when the sultan and his vizier Niẓām al-Mulk wear it themselves?” He replied, “Even if they both testified, I would not accept them (3).”

Ibn al-Najjār said: He studied under the judge Abū al-Ṭayyib (4) and memorized his annotations. He took no stipend for his judgeship, nor did he change his food or his clothing. He treated everyone equally, which caused the grandees to turn against him. Upright and God-fearing in the manner of the early generations, he owned a karak (5) that he rented out each month for a dinar and a half, from which he supported himself. After he became judge, someone came and offered four dinars for it, but he refused and said, “I will not change my tenant, and I have become suspicious of you. Why was this increase not offered before I assumed the judgeship (6)?”