Thaʿlab remarked, “He is not a reliable authority.”

Yamūt said, “His grandfather was a black camel-driver.”

It is related from al-Jāḥiẓ himself: “I forgot my kunya for three days until my family reminded me of it.”

I say: He was light-minded, not strong in religion, and he delighted in witty anecdotes.

al-Mubarrad recounted: “I visited him and asked, ‘How are you?’ He replied, ‘How do you think a man fares whose one half is paralyzed and whose other half is racked with gout? If a fly were to land on him it would hurt him—and the real misfortune is that I have passed ninety.’”

It is also said that al-Mutawakkil summoned him, whereupon he responded, “What use has the Commander of the Believers for a crooked frame and a drooling mouth?!”

Ibn Zabr held that he died in 250 AH, whereas al-Ṣūlī maintained that his death occurred in 255 AH.

I say: He was an ocean of learning, and his works are exceedingly numerous.

It is reported that no book ever came into his hands without his reading it through completely; indeed, he would rent the stalls of the booksellers and spend the night there reading, and he was a ⦗1⦘ marvel in the strength of his memory.

It is further said that al-Jāḥiẓ deputized for Ibrāhīm ibn al-ʿAbbās al-Ṣūlī for a time in the Bureau of Correspondence.

During his illness he told the physician, “Opposites have joined forces against my body: if I eat something cold, my leg is seized; if I eat something hot, my head is afflicted.”

And among al-Jāḥiẓ’s words to Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Malik is the maxim: “Benefit engenders affection,”