the Sultan, seeking sanctuary there from a danger that alarmed him; in his absence the Chief Judge al-Zaynabī acted as vizier, and that was in 534 AH.

Al-Muqtafī then appointed Ibn Jahīr (1) to the vizierate. In 536 AH Sultan Masʿūd entered Baghdad, and Ibn Ṭirād remained confined to his house until he died.

Al-Samʿānī said: “ʿAlī ibn Ṭirād was a man of eminent rank, awe-inspiring and dignified, sharp-sighted, keen of intuition, well versed in the lofty and weighty affairs of state, brave and resolute. He deposed al-Rāshid and, in a single day, assembled the people to depose him and pledge allegiance to al-Muqtafī.”

Later al-Muqtafī changed his mind about him and resolved to arrest him, whereupon he sought refuge in the Sultan’s palace.

When the Sultan arrived he ordered that ʿAlī be conveyed to his own residence with honour. There he devoted himself to worship: he was constant in Qur’an recitation and prayer, ever cheerful, and he provided regular stipends for the reciters and ascetics.

“I read a great deal to him,” says the author, “and he treated me with the utmost generosity. The first time I entered upon him during his vizierate he said, ‘Welcome to a craft that finds no market except at the moment of death.’”

Aḥmad ibn Ṣāliḥ al-Jīlī reported: “The vizier Sharaf al-Dīn ʿAlī ibn Ṭirād died at the beginning of Ramaḍān in 538 AH. The vizier of the time, Abū Naṣr ibn Jahīr, together with great crowds—may Allah have mercy on them—followed his funeral cortege.”

91 – al-Zamakhsharī, Abū al-Qāsim Maḥmūd ibn ʿUmar ibn Muḥammad*
The erudite scholar, leading figure of the Muʿtazilites, Abū al-Qāsim Maḥmūd ibn ʿUmar ibn Muḥammad