was forbearing, merciful, solicitous, gentle, and generous. I copied from the manuscript of Abū Ṭālib ibn ʿAbd al-Samīʿ, who said:

“Al-Mustadiʾ was one of the divinely aided imams, exceedingly generous and of excellent conduct … until he went on to say: ‘It reached me that, on a single day, he granted to favorites and various departments more than fifty thousand dinars.’ ”

ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Dulaf transmitted: Masʿūd ibn al-Nādir (1) narrated to us:

“I used to keep company with the Commander of the Faithful, al-Mustadiʾ. The keeper of the treasury, Ibn al-ʿAṭṭār, had made a candelabrum worth one thousand dinars and brought it in with its candle burning. When I rose to leave, a servant carried it before me, and the caliph presented me with the basin (2).”

Ibn al-Jawzī (3) said: “He distributed large sums among the Alids, the scholars, and the Sufis. He was incessantly giving away money; it meant nothing to him. Upon his accession he bestowed robes of honor on the dignitaries of state, and the tailor of the treasury (4) told me that he cut one thousand three hundred silk caftans. He appointed Rūḥ ibn al-Ḥadīthī as Chief Judge and assigned commands to seventeen mamluks.

He also said: ‘He kept himself screened from most people; he would ride out only with the household servants, and no one was admitted to him…’