He was handsome in appearance, cultivated in manner; when he spoke, his words became all the more delightful. He mastered both verse and prose and possessed flawless eloquence … until Ibn al-Najjār concluded: “He passed away, and I attended the funeral prayer for him.”

I say: He transmitted a number of the major scholarly works, and ʿAlam al-Dīn al-Qāsim received from him Sibawayh’s Kitāb.

Abū Shāmah (1) said: He came to Egypt and was the unrivalled scholar of his day, unique in his age. ʿIzz al-Dīn Farrukhshāh embraced him with favor, as did afterwards his son al-Amjad. In Damascus he was regularly visited by King al-Afḍal, his brother al-Muḥsin, and their cousin al-Muʿaẓẓam.

Ḍiyāʾ al-Dīn Ibn Abī al-Ḥajjāj al-Kātib relates, on the authority of al-Kindī: “I was in the assembly of al-Qāḍī al-Fāḍil when Farrukhshāh entered. The discussion turned to the commentary on a line from al-Mutanabbī’s Dīwān. I offered an observation that pleased him, so the qāḍī asked about me, and someone replied, ‘This is the scholar Tāj al-Dīn al-Kindī.’ Farrukhshāh immediately rose, took me with him, and I remained in close company with him thereafter.

“He [al-Kindī] added: al-Muʿaẓẓam used to study with him constantly; with him he read Sibawayh’s Kitāb, text and commentary, the Ḥamāsah, the Īḍāḥ, and many other works. Al-Muʿaẓẓam would come to him on foot from the Citadel to Darb al-ʿAjam, carrying the volume under his arm.

“Ibn Khallikān (2) reports that al-Kindī said: I was sitting at the door of Ibn al-Khassāb when al-Zamakhsharī came out. He was walking on a wooden leg, having lost his own to the snow.

“Ibn Nuqtah (3) said: al-Kindī was generous to strangers, of excellent character, and he was—”