and he was the unrivalled figure of his age, in verse as well as in prose. I once saw him in Ibn Shukr’s gathering, wedged among the crowd at the very back.

Zaki al-Din al-Mundhiri (1) said: “Al-ʿImad united every distinction within himself: jurisprudence, belles-lettres, and first-rate poetry. In both prose and poetry his hand was unmatched. He composed works of abiding benefit, and Sultan al-Malik al-Nasir treated him with a forbearance, leniency, openness, and graciousness that is truly astonishing. He died at the beginning of Ramadan, 597 AH, and was buried in the Ṣūfī cemetery—may Allah have mercy on him.”

Mahfuz ibn al-Buzuri informed me in his History, saying: “Al-ʿImad is the imam of the eloquent, the sun of the poets, the axle (2) around which the millstone of the cultured turns. The rays of his virtues rose and shone; caravans hastened with news of him and returned exhilarated. In clarity he is the Quss of his time; in eloquence, the Sahban of his age. He surpassed all mankind, in poetry and in prose alike.”

Ahmad ibn Salamah related to us in his book, from Muhammad ibn Muhammad the scribe; ʿAli ibn ʿAbd al-Sayyid told us; Abu Muhammad al-Ṣarifini told us; Ibn Ḥababah narrated to us; al-Baghawi narrated to us; ʿAli ibn al-Jaʿd narrated to us; Shuʿbah informed us, from Abu Dhibyan—who is Khalifah ibn Kaʿb—who said:

“I heard Ibn al-Zubayr say: ‘Do not clothe your womenfolk in silk (3), for I heard ʿUmar say: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, “Whoever wears it in this world shall not wear it in the Hereafter.” (4)’”