and he also wrote, in the field of medicine, a two-volume work entitled al-Luqṭ.

He was meticulous in safeguarding his health, in tempering his bodily humours, and in anything that could give his mind greater strength and his intellect extra sharpness. The bulk of his food consisted of pullets and mazāwīr (small game birds); instead of fruit he would take cordials and medicinal pastes. His attire was of the finest sort: soft, fragrant white garments. He had a keen mind, instant repartee, a touch of playful humour and pleasant banter, and he was seldom without a comely hand-maid.

I read, in the hand of Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Jalīl al-Mawqānī (1), that Ibn al-Jawzī once drank balādhur (marking-nut); his beard then fell out and became extremely short, and he continued to dye it black until he died.

He said: “He made many mistakes in what he authored, for he would finish a book and never review it.”

I replied: “That is indeed so. He had a host of slips and all kinds of errors because he neglected revision, acquired knowledge from scattered sheets, and produced such a quantity that, had he lived a second lifetime, he would not have managed to refine and perfect it.”

His grandson (2) related: “My grandfather once sat beneath the tomb of the caliph’s mother near Maʿrūf al-Karkhī while I was present. He recited some verses that brought the session to a halt:

I ask Allah to lengthen my span,
that by His grace I may attain what I intend. (3)"