would provide the craftsmen of the pen their finest exemplar—indeed, their choicest merchandise. Where is Qus in comparison with his eloquence, or Qays (1) beside his keen discernment? And what are Hatim and ʿAmr when set against his liberality and valor? No trace of self-congratulation stains his deeds, no exaggeration mars his speech. Loyal, dignified, pure of heart and chivalrous, he is counted among the awliyāʾ singled out for divine favor. Though constantly occupied with supererogatory prayers and voluntary acts of charity, he never slackens; each day he would recite … until he said:
“I prefer to devote a separate book to his poetry and his prose.”
It was said that the judge was hunch-backed. Our teacher Abū Isḥāq al-Fāḍilī (3) told me that Qāḍī al-Fāḍil once went as an envoy to the ruler of Mosul. Fruit was set before them, and one of the dignitaries, jesting, remarked, “Your best man is a hunchback,” alluding to him. Al-Fāḍil replied, “Our dried dates are better than your fresh cucumbers.”
Al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Mundhirī (4) said: “The Sultan relied on him completely and advanced him greatly. He was abundantly charitable and left many noble legacies. He passed away on the night of the seventh of Rabīʿ al-Ākhir in the year 596 AH.”
(1) In al-Kharida: “And where is Qays?”
(2) In al-Kharida the wording is: “and his fervour.” His generosity is an ever-flowing state, and the star of his acceptance shines high in the horizon of favour. There is no boastfulness in his deeds, no deceit in his speech, no breach of promise, no slowness in giving aid. Truthful in character and foremost in liberality, he possesses loyalty and manliness, purity and chivalry, piety and righteousness, munificence and open-handedness. He revives the scattered remnants of knowledge and raises its banners, banishes the darkness of virtue and recites its verses. He is one of the friends of Allah whom He has honoured and chosen for His patronage. God has guided him to every good, and by his merit and nobility has made this age surpass the previous ones. Despite the pressing affairs of government that fully absorb him in this world, he never neglects the next … etc.
(3) The person meant is the shaykh of the Qurʾan readers, Jamal al-Din Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Dawud al-Asqalani, later al-Dimashqi al-Fadili (d. 692/1293). He was one of al-Dhahabi’s outstanding teachers in the science of Qurʾan readings and presided over the teaching at Turbat Umm al-Salih (al-Dhahabi, Muʿjam al-Shuyukh, 1, fol. 27; Maʿrifat al-Qurraʾ, pp. 562-563; Ibn al-Jazari, Ghayat al-Nihaya, 2:71).
(4) Al-Takmila, biography no. 526.