—whereupon one of the commanders exclaimed, “Is this sorcery?” He answered, “No; it is simply sound deduction. (1)

Ibn Abī al-ʿAjāʾiz and others recount that a fire broke out in Damascus, so Ibn Ṭūlūn rode out to the scene, accompanied by Abū Zurʿah and by his secretary, Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Wāsiṭī. Aḥmad asked Abū Zurʿah, “What is the name of this place?” He replied, “The quarter of the Church of Mary.” Al-Wāsiṭī said, “Mary has a church?” He replied, “They built it in her name.” Ibn Ṭūlūn then said, “Why are you badgering the shaykh?”

He ordered that seventy thousand dinars of his own money be given to the victims of the fire; they were paid and there was still gold left over. He further commanded that a large sum be distributed among the poor of the Ghūṭah and of the city, the least anyone received being a single dinar. (2)

Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Mādarāʾī said: I used to pass by the grave of Ibn Ṭūlūn and would see an old man constantly stationed there. After a time I no longer saw him, then I saw him again and asked about it. He said, “He had many acts of kindness to his credit with me, so I wished to repay him by reciting the Qurʾān.” He continued, “I then saw him in a dream, and he said to me, ‘I would prefer that you not recite over me, for no verse passes by me without my being struck with it and being told, “Did you not hear this verse?”’”

Aḥmad died in Egypt in the month of Dhū al-Qaʿdah, in the year 270 AH. After him his son Khumārawayh assumed power, then Khumārawayh’s son Jaysh, then his brother Hārūn.

54 – Aḥmad al-Khujistānī
A tyrannical, obstinate, unjust, and rebellious man, he renounced obedience to the ruler of Khurāsān, Yaʿqūb