al-Ḥasan ibn Aḥmad ibn al-Mufarrij (1) al-Lakhmī, the Syrian, of Beisan stock, born in ʿAsqalān, resident in Egypt; a master scribe and head of Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn’s Chancery.

He was born in 529 AH (2).

In his mature years he heard ḥadith from Abū Ṭāhir al-Silafī, Abū Muḥammad al-ʿUthmānī, Abū al-Qāsim ibn ʿAsākir, Abū al-Ṭāhir ibn ʿAwf, and ʿUthmān ibn Faraj al-ʿAbdarī, and he transmitted only a small amount.

His attribution to Beisan is merely figurative; he was not actually from there, though his father—the eminent judge Abū al-Ḥasan—had once served as its qāḍī.

Excellence in epistolary style and the eloquence of state correspondence reached their zenith with al-Qāḍī al-Fāḍil: in that art his hand was unrivalled, his themes were original, and his reach the longest; none could catch up with him or raise dust behind him, numerous though the contenders were.

Ibn Khallikān (3) states: “It is said that the draft copies of his letters fall short of nothing less than one hundred volumes. He also composed a great deal of poetry. He learned the craft from al-Muwaffaq Yūsuf ibn al-Khallāl, the secretary of al-ʿĀḍid (4). After that he served for a time on the frontier, and then the son of Ṣāliḥ ibn Ruzzayk summoned him,”