Al-Muwaffaq ʿAbd al-Laṭīf said: “They were three brothers.

The first served in Alexandria. He left behind chests filled with signet rings and houses crammed with mats and cooking pots; whenever he heard of a ring, he spared no effort to obtain it.

The second was consumed by an excessive passion for acquiring books; he owned nearly 200,000 volumes.

The third was Qāḍī al-Fāḍil. He, too, was devoted to writing and to books. Religious, chaste, and God-fearing, he persevered in night devotions, fasting, and Qurʾan recitation. When Asad al-Dīn took power he summoned him and was impressed, after which Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn appointed him exclusively to his own service. He took little from worldly pleasures and abounded in good works, maintained the night vigil prayer, and occupied himself with tafsīr and literature. Though his grounding in grammar was slight, long practice had given him a powerful command of style, and he produced in official correspondence what no one else has matched. I know that Ibn Sanāʾ al-Mulk possesses twenty-two volumes of his letters, while Ibn al-Qaṭṭān has twenty.

He was frugal in his food, his marital life, and his clothing. He wore white, and when he rode out he was accompanied only by a single servant and a groom, allowing no one else to join him. He often followed funeral processions and visited the sick, giving charity both openly and in secret. Slight of build and delicate in appearance, he had a hump that he concealed beneath his cloak. A certain ill temper was present in him, but he kept it to himself and harmed no one by it. Scholars enjoyed special favor with him, and he treated them kindly. He never took revenge on his enemies except by beneficence or by ignoring them.

His fixed yearly income was about 50,000 dinars, not counting his trading ventures in India and the Maghrib.

He died quietly (1) at the very moment when death was most needful for him—just as prosperity was departing and decline was approaching—and this is proof that God showed him special care.