He transmitted hadith from the memoriser Abū al-Qāsim Ibn ʿAsākir. Those who narrated from him were al-Qūṣī, al-Yaldānī, and—by written licence—ʿUmar b. al-Qawwās. A follower of the Ḥanafī school, he tutored some royal children and composed panegyrics for the great. He passed away in Muḥarram (1), 615 AH.
He is the one who said (2):
“January has frozen the wine in every goblet …
and in the brazier has smothered the ember as soon as it sparked.
O paradise of Zabadānī, you unveil …
a radiant face when the face of Time grows sullen.
The snow upon you is cotton the clouds are carding …
the air spins it, and the bow is the bow of Qazaḥ (the rainbow).”
From another long and exquisite ode:
“O many a fair-skinned maiden who drew the white of her eyes from black orbs …
keen as the drooping shafts of spears;
slender of waist, pure of smile, with luxuriant tresses (3) …
who have forsaken kohl, for their eyes supply its black;
like suns from which the clouds have rolled away …
they flirt with us (4) from behind curtains and diadems.”
93 – al-Sāmarī, Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Muḥammad*
Shaykh of the Hanbalīs, judge of Sāmarrāʾ, Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Muḥammad b.