His books had remained in Baghdad while he was away; afterwards they were sent on to him in Mosul. There he started fumigating them with ladhen (styrax resin) to remove their foul smell, but the vapors rose to his head and caused him to go blind.
Among his writings are Sarīqāt al-Mutanabbī, a single volume, and al-Tadhkira, in seven volumes (1).
Al-ʿImād al-Kātib said, “He was the Sībawayh of his age, the unmatched scholar of his time. I met him, and in those days it was said: ‘The grammarians of Baghdad are four: Ibn al-Jawālīqī (2), Ibn al-Shajarī (3), Ibn al-Khashshāb (4), and Ibn al-Dahhān (5).’”
Ibn Khallikān remarks: His honorific was Nāṣiḥ al-Dīn. He died in 569 AH (6).
364 – ʿAbd al-Nabī ibn al-Mahdī ʿAlī ibn Mahdī *
His father had been a preacher, devoted himself to religious activity, proclaimed his own leadership, and a number of events unfolded because of him,
(1) For his other works, consult: Suyuti, Inba al-ruwat, 2/50; Yaqut, Mu jam al-udaba, 11/221-222; Ibn Khallikan, Wafayat al-a yan, 2/382; Ismail Pasha al-Baghdadi, Hadiyat al-arifin, 1/391. See also: Carl Brockelmann, Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur (Arabic translation), 5/170.
(2) His biography has already been given under no. 50.
(3) His biography has already been given under no. 126.
(4) His biography has already been given under no. 337.
(5) See Suyuti, Inba al-ruwat, 2/51.
(6) See Ibn Khallikan, Wafayat al-a yan, 2/383; I did not, however, find there the statement that his honorific was Nasih al-Din.
(*) Additional sources: Ibn al-Athir, Al-kamil, 11/396 (events of 569 H); Ibn Wasil, Mufarrij al-kurub, 238-243; Ibn al-Mumati, Al-mukhtasar, 3/54; al-Dhahabi, Al-ibr, 4/207; Ibn al-Mumati, Tatimmat al-mukhtasar, 2/126; al-Yafi i, Mirat al-janan, 3/390; Ibn Kathir, Al-bidaya wa-l-nihaya, 12/273-274; Ibn Taghribirdi, Al-nujum al-zahara, 6/69, 72; Ibn al-Imad, Shadharat al-dhahab, 4/234; Ibn Taymiyya, Bulugh al-maram, 18.