44 – Abū ʿAbbād the Secretary, Thābit ibn Yaḥyā ibn Yasār al-Rāzī *
He was the vizier of the caliph al-Maʾmūn—Thābit ibn Yaḥyā ibn Yasār al-Rāzī.
He ranked among the first-rate administrators, distinguished in arithmetic, management, and practical knowledge, and through these qualities he rose to prominence.
He handled his master’s finances with the utmost efficiency, until gout overwhelmed him and he asked to be excused from office.
He was open-handed, generous, and of noble bearing, though naturally withdrawn and stern-faced.
He lived sixty-five years and died in Muḥarram, 220 AH.
Ibn al-Najjār gives an extended account of him, citing al-Ṣūlī’s works and the book of Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdūs al-Jahshiyārī, The Lives of the Viziers.
45 – al-Marīsī Bishr ibn Ghiyāth ibn Abī Karīmah al-ʿAdawī **
The dialectical theologian, accomplished debater—Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Bishr ibn Ghiyāth ibn Abī Karīmah al-ʿAdawī, their client, a Baghdadi known as al-Marīsī—was from the freedmen attached to the household of Zayd ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (may Allah be pleased with him).
Bishr was counted among the leading jurists.
He studied under the judge Abū Yūsuf,
and he transmitted from:
(*) al-Tabari, History (Tarikh al-Tabari), vol. 8, p. 660; Yaqut, Geographical Dictionary (Muʿjam al-Buldan), vol. 2, pp. 540–541.
(**) al-Baghdadi, The Difference Between the Sects (al-Farq bayna al-Firaq), pp. 192–195; al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, History of Baghdad (Tarikh Baghdad), vol. 7, pp. 56–67; Yaqut, Geographical Dictionary, vol. 5, p. 118; Ibn ʿAsakir, al-Intisar, p. 201; Ibn al-Athir, al-Lubab, vol. 3, p. 200; Ibn Khallikan, Obituaries of Eminent Men (Wafayat al-Aʿyan), vol. 1, pp. 277–278; al-Dhahabi, Balance of Criticism (Mizan al-Iʿtidal), vol. 1, pp. 322–323; al-Dhahabi, Chronicles (al-ʿIbar), vol. 1, p. 373; Ibn Kathir, The Eye of Histories (ʿUyun al-Tawarikh), vol. 8, fol. 9; al-Safadi, The Complete Obituaries (al-Wafi bi-l-Wafayat), vol. 10, p. 151; Ibn Kathir, The Beginning and the End (al-Bidaya wa-l-Nihaya), vol. 10, p. 281; Ibn Hajar, The Tongue of the Balance (Lisan al-Mizan), vol. 2, pp. 29–31; Ibn Taghri, The Shining Stars (al-Nujum al-Zahira), vol. 2, p. 228; al-Maqrizi, The Radiant Jewels (al-Jawahir al-Mudiyya), p. 164; Ibn al-Imad, Golden Fragments (Shadharat al-Dhahab), vol. 2, p. 44; al-Kattani, Beneficial Notes (al-Fawaid al-Bahiyya), p. 54.