I said: He died on the night when two nights remained of Jumada al-Akhirah in the year 502 AH, at the age of eighty-one.

171 – Abu al-Hayjāʾ Muqātil ibn ʿAṭiyyah al-Bakrī al-Ḥijāzī *

A military commander and poet, known as Shibl al-Dawlah, Muqātil ibn ʿAṭiyyah al-Bakrī, a native of the Ḥijāz, travelled to Baghdad, then to Ghaznah and Khurasan, lauding the leading dignitaries and gaining the special favour of Niẓām al-Mulk (1). Afterwards he made his way to Nāṣir al-Dīn Mukram ibn al-ʿAlāʾ, the vizier of Kirmān, carrying with him a note in which al-Mustazhir bi-Allah had written: “O Abu al-Hayjāʾ, you have gone far afield (2); may Allah hasten your return. In Ibn al-ʿAlāʾ there is ample sufficiency, and his road to goodness is a clear highway (3).”

When he entered the presence of Ibn al-ʿAlāʾ, he showed him the note; the vizier rose, bowed before it, and immediately ordered one thousand dinars to be given to him. Later, when Muqātil recited:

“Let the camels stride across the breadth of the desert
toward Ibn al-ʿAlāʾ—else let them not go at all,”

Ibn al-ʿAlāʾ granted him another thousand dinars, along with a horse and a robe of honour. Muqātil then settled in Herat, where he fell in love with a woman; he subsequently became ill, his complexion darkened, and he died around 505 AH.