Ibn Shākir al-Ṣāʿigh narrated to us; ʿAffān ibn Muslim narrated to us; Hammām narrated to us; Qatādah narrated to us; Abū Ayyūb al-ʿAtakī narrated to me, from Juwayriyyah bint al-Ḥārith—may Allah be pleased with her:
The Prophet entered upon her on a Friday while she was fasting and said, “Did you fast yesterday?”
She replied, “No.”
He said, “Do you intend to fast tomorrow?”
She said, “No.”
He said, “Then break your fast.” (1)

66 – Aḥmad ibn Abī Khālid al-Aḥwal
The scribe, Abū al-ʿAbbās, who served as vizier for al-Maʾmūn after al-Faḍl ibn Sahl. He was open-handed, much praised, magnanimous, astute, politically savvy, and bold.

A man once said to him, “You have been given what the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, was not given.”

He asked, “Woe to you—what is that?”

The man replied, “Allah said to His Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, ‘Had you been harsh and hard-hearted, they would have dispersed from around you’ (Āl ʿImrān 3:159). Yet you are harsh and hard-hearted, and the people around you do not disperse!” (2)

His father had been a scribe for the vizier of al-Mahdī; the family came originally from the Jordan district. Aḥmad later deputised in the vizierate on behalf of al-Ḥasan ibn Sahl.

Al-Ṣūlī said: al-Qāsim ibn Ismāʿīl narrated to us: I heard Ibrāhīm ibn al-ʿAbbās say, “Aḥmad ibn Abī Khālid sent me to the amir Ṭalḥah ibn Ṭāhir and said to me, ‘Say…’”