Mansur—whose creed was unsound, whose books were burned, and who was a close companion of ʿAlī ibn al-Jawzī, the two of them being bound together by their lack of warʿ (religious scrupulousness).

He was born in 548 AH.

He studied under his grandfather, Ibn al-Baṭṭī, and Aḥmad ibn al-Muqarrab, yet none of them narrated anything from him.

He taught in his grandfather’s school and held several official posts.

Ibn al-Najjār relates: “In his own handwriting one finds statements about selecting certain stars, addressing them as deities, and claiming that they manage the universe. He was summoned and pleaded, ‘I wrote that out of astonishment, not as a conviction.’ Even so, his notes—together with philosophical works in his hand—were publicly burned in 588 AH. His schools were then handed over to Ibn al-Jawzī, and this was the cause for Ibn al-Jawzī’s imprisonment in Wāsiṭ for five years. When a Shīʿī vizier assumed office, he empowered al-Rukn against Ibn al-Jawzī. After 600 AH the schools were restored to al-Rukn. He was later appointed dean in Baghdad and tax-collector; once in power he acted unjustly and high-handedly, until he was jailed and fell into obscurity.”

Ibn al-Najjār also said: “He was witty and good-natured, but his creed was corrupt.”

He died in Rajab, 611 AH.

40 – The itinerant ʿAlī ibn Abī Bakr al-Harawī *

The ascetic, the erudite wanderer, the shaykh, ʿAlī ibn Abī Bakr al-Harawī, who journeyed