It is also reported that someone once asked him, “Should the final vowel of al-qafā be pronounced long or short?” He answered, “Make it long—then shorten it.” He was fond of joking (1).

It is said that two men recited their poetry to him. After listening only to the first, he remarked, “Your verses are worse than his.” The poet protested, “How can you say that when you have not yet heard the other man’s lines?!” He replied, “Because nothing could possibly be worse than what I have just heard” (2).

On another occasion he asked a man, “What ails you?” The man replied, “fuʾādī—my heart.” He quipped, “Had you not inserted the hamzah, it would not hurt you.”

Hamzah ibn al-Qubayṭī said: “Ibn al-Khashshāb used to wrap a turban around his head and keep it on so long that it turned black and tore from grime, with bird droppings on it (3).”

Ibn al-Akhdar added: “Ibn al-Khashshāb never married nor kept a concubine. He was filthy, drawing his water with a cracked jar. We visited him during his illness and found him in a dreadful state, so Judge Abū al-Qāsim ibn al-Farrāʾ moved him into his own house, dressed him in a clean garment, and provided drinks and rosewater. He then had us witness his endowment of his books; the collection was dispersed, and the sons of the apothecary bought most of it, leaving only a tenth, which was deposited in the Mamūniyya ribāṭ (4).”

Ibn al-Najjār (5) said: “He was miserly and slovenly; he would play chess in the street, stand watching the conjurer, and crack jokes. He wrote a refutation of al-Ḥarīrī on…"