Al-Ḥasan served as vizier for al-Muʿtamid on two separate occasions, after which the caliph confiscated his property. He was then appointed a third time and held the post for five years, but the ruler became displeased with him. Al-Ḥasan therefore slipped away to Egypt, where Aḥmad ibn Ṭūlūn welcomed him, entrusted him with the governance of the province, and pledged him roughly one million dinars a year on condition of just administration. The provincial officials feared him, closed ranks, and said to Ibn Ṭūlūn, “This man is a spy on you for al-Muwaffaq, the heir apparent.” Suspicion thus took hold of Ibn Ṭūlūn and he imprisoned him.

Advisers then said, “Is it wise to keep him confined so near to you? Should he happen to die, the blame will fall on you.” So Ibn Ṭūlūn sent him to his deputy in Antioch with orders to torture him, and he perished under the torture.

Despite his injustice, he was a generous, celebrated poet; al-Buḥturī (1) and others composed panegyrics in his honor.

Ibn al-Najjār remarked, “He combined the vizierate with the secretaryship of al-Muwaffaq and was a marvel in dīwān accounting. People used to say, ‘Whatever Ibn Makhlad does not know is simply not of this world.’”

He was flawless in appearance, awe-inspiring, and magnificently dressed; he would send out his pages mounted, clad in brocade and cloth of gold, accompanied by several spare mounts. When he sat in his residence, the eye would fall upon carpets, hangings, and vessels valued at 100,000 dinars. In outward bearing he resembled a mighty sovereign.

He died in 271 AH, though another report places his death in 269 AH.