He was also a leading authority in belles-lettres: he had memorised the Dīwān of al-Mutanabbī, the Sermons of Ibn Nubāta, and the Maqāmāt, fully grasped their contents, and could unravel their subtleties. He was trustworthy and virtuous, and many distinguished scholars completed their training under him.
Among those who transmitted from him were al-Dimyāṭī, Abū Isḥāq al-Mukharrimī, Muḥammad ibn al-Zarrād, Quṭb al-Dīn ibn al-Yūnīnī, and others.
He died on the second (1) of Dhu al-Qaʿda in 656 AH.
255 – al-Bahāʾ Zuhayr, Abū al-ʿAlāʾ Zuhayr ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Azdi *
The incomparable courtier, Bahāʾ al-Dīn, Abū al-ʿAlāʾ Zuhayr ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Azdi, al-Muhallabī, originally of Mecca and later of Qūṣ, the scribe.
He left a celebrated Dīwān and polished verse.
His birth (2): 581 AH.
He heard ḥadīth from ʿAlī ibn Abī al-Karam al-Bannāʾ.
He composed the chancery correspondence for Sultan al-Malik al-Ṣāliḥ Najm al-Dīn, and then, toward the end
(1) The appendix to Mirat al-zaman states that he died on Friday afternoon. Al-Suyuti, in al-Bulgha, limits himself to saying only that the day was Friday, whereas Abu Shama, in the appendix to al-Rawdatayn, records the date as the 3rd of Dhu al-Qada.
(*) Principal sources: Appendix to al-Rawdatayn, p. 201; Wafayat al-aʿyan 2:332–338; Sila al-takmila (al-Husayni) vol. 2, fol. 42; Appendix to Mirat (al-Yunini) 1:184–197; Tarikh al-Islam (al-Dhahabi, Aya Sofya MS 3013) vol. 20, fol. 153–154; Duwal al-Islam 2:121; al-ʿIbar 5:230; ʿUyun al-tawarikh 20:179–188; al-Bidaya wa-al-nihaya 13:211–212; al-Suluk li-maʿrifat duwal al-muluk (al-Maqrizi) vol. 1, part 2, p. 413; al-Nujum al-zahira 7:62–63; Husn al-muhadara 1:567, bio. 30; Shadharat al-dhahab 5:276–277. Further older and modern references are noted by Kahhala, Muʿjam al-muʾallifin 4:187, and Zirikli, al-Aʿlam, 4th ed., 3:52.
(2) Ibn Khallikan, citing al-Baha Zuhayr, says he was born on the 5th of Dhu al-Hijja, while al-Husayni places his birth during the night preceding that same date.