his seat of honor, and he would personally attend to the caliph’s needs.
Among his compositions—he sent these lines to al-Qāʾim—are the following:
Had it not been for the Caliph, fount of grace and favor,
scion of caliphs, guardian of the obligatory and the sunnah,
I would never have left my tribe—the best of all mankind—yet
Baghdad I know, and she knows me.
None but I deserves the rank I enjoy,
so long as your justice today grants me my due.
(It is a lengthy ode). (1)
He died in 499 AH.
139 – Ibn Siwār, Abū Ṭāhir Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿUbayd Allāh *
The Imām, leading Qur’an-reciter of his day, Abū Ṭāhir Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿUmar ibn Siwār (2) al-Baghdādī, the blind reciter, was one of the consummate masters.
He was born in 412 AH.
He studied the various transmissions under ʿUtba ibn ʿAbd
…the governor of Egypt. The caliph al-Qa’im therefore proceeded to Emir Muharash ibn Mujalli al-Uqayli, lord of al-Haditha and ‘Anah, who sheltered him and met all his needs for a full year, until the arrival of Tughril Beg the Seljuq. Tughril fought al-Basasiri, slew him, and al-Qa’im then returned to Baghdad, entering the city on the very same calendar day on which he had left it—a complete year having elapsed. Al-Basasiri was killed on Tuesday, 11 Dhu l-Hijja 451/24 January 1060; his head was carried in procession through Baghdad and his body was crucified opposite Bab al-Nubi.
See: al-Muntazam 8:190 ff.; Wafayat al-A‘yan 1:192–193; al-‘Ibar 3:225; al-Kamil fi al-Tarikh 9:640–650; Shadharat 3:287; al-Wafi bi-l-Wafayat 8:340; al-Bidaya 12:76–84.
(1) See ‘Uyun al-Tawarikh 13:77/1.
(*) Al-Muntazam 9:135; Mu‘jam al-Udaba’ 4:46–48; Duwal al-Islam 2:26; al-‘Ibar 3:343; Ma‘rifat al-Qurra’ 1:362–363; al-Wafi bi-l-Wafayat 7:204–205; ‘Uyun al-Tawarikh 13: fol. 119–120; al-Bidaya 12:163; Tabaqat al-Qurra’ 1:86; al-Nujum al-Zahira 5:187; Shadharat al-Dhahab 3:403; Taj al-‘Arus 3:284.
(2) The name Suwar is vocalised with kasra on the initial s and without gemination, as in the original (see Mushtabih al-Mu’allifin 1:376); Mu‘jam al-Udaba’ 4:46 wrongly gives it with fatha on the sin and a doubled waw.