Ṣāliḥ ibn Aḥmad, the ḥāfiẓ, said: “I was informed that in Kūfah he was known as ‘the Monk of Kūfah.’ Yet when he accepted the judgeship he remarked, ‘In my advanced years I have been forsaken,’ despite his chastity and upright conduct (1).

Muṭayyan stated: He died in 258 AH.

129 – Aḥmad ibn Isrāʾīl ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Anbārī
The court scribe and vizier of al-Muʿtazz.

He enjoyed great favor with al-Muʿtazz, who appointed him vizier in 252 AH. He rose to the demands of the office, and his intelligence was proverbial—whatever he heard he retained. In the matter of the dīwān’s accounts he was regarded as the final authority (2).

Ibn al-Zayyāt promoted him and made his name widely known. He had already entered government service during the reign of al-Amīn, and he lived to a ripe old age.

He related: “I would copy a book, and before I had finished writing it I had memorized it letter for letter. I did that many times.”

He introduced new conventions and rules in calligraphy that lasted after him, while what had preceded them was set aside.

He abridged “The Estimate of the Provinces’ Kharāj (land tax)” onto half a ṭalḥiyya (3), and Ibn al-Zayyāt never parted with it, keeping it tucked inside his leather khuff.

One day al-Wāthiq asked him about the state funds, but the sheet