al-Munajja (1), and others.

His instructor in jurisprudence was Asʿad al-Mīhanī. He assumed the judgeship of his own town and travelled as an envoy (2) for the lord of Mosul, Zangī the Atabeg. He later presented himself to Zangī’s son, Nūr al-Dīn, who received him with exceptional honour in Aleppo and dispatched him as ambassador to the caliph al-Muqtafī.

He founded a madrasa in Mosul and a ribāṭ in Ṭayba. Afterwards, Nūr al-Dīn appointed him judge of Damascus, supervisor of the awqāf (endowments), custodian of the treasury, and other posts. He therefore deputised his son Abū Ḥāmid in Aleppo, his nephew Abū al-Qāsim in Ḥamāh, and another of his sons for the judgeship of Ḥimṣ.

Ibn ʿAsākir said: “He took charge of the judiciary of Damascus in the year 555 AH. He was a man of letters, a poet, delightful company; he spoke eloquently on legal theory, endowed many properties, and was skilled in politics and the management of the realm.”

Abū al-Faraj Ibn al-Jawzī (3) said: “He was the foremost member of his household. He built a madrasa in Mosul and another in Naṣībīn. Nūr al-Dīn appointed him judge, then made him vizier, and sent him on diplomatic missions. It is related that he once wrote a petition and signed it, ‘Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh, the Messenger.’ Al-Muqtafī then added beneath it: ‘may Allah bless him and grant him peace.’”

Sibt Ibn al-Jawzī (4) said: “When Shaykh Aḥmad ibn Qudāmah, the father—”