one of the celebrated poets, master rhetoricians, and widely praised men of generosity.
He was first appointed vizier to al-Muʿtamid in 265 AH, succeeding al-Ḥasan ibn Makhlad (1). He was then dismissed, reinstated, dismissed once more, and finally entrusted with the vizierate a third time when the former vizier Ṣāʿid was arrested in 272 AH.
He lived in a style befitting the greatest kings, with a daily allowance of one hundred sheep, seventy kids, and a qinṭār of sweets. When al-Muʿtaḍid became heir apparent, he had him arrested and tortured, and Ibn Bulbul died in 278 AH.
ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Abī Ṭāhir said: “When al-Muwaffaq sought a vizier, his choice fell upon Abū al-Ṣaqr. He selected a man rarely equalled—adequate for weighty matters, autonomous in managing affairs, the quickest to execute plans along the soundest and most beneficial paths, and the surest of safeguarding the interests of the throne. He honored literature and its people, lavishing them with noble gifts; he combined courage with lofty ambition, regarded worldly goods as trivial save what he could send ahead for the Hereafter, was vast in forbearance and self-restraint, and was generous even to those bent on their own ruin.”
Abū ʿAlī al-Tanūkhī relates: Abū al-Ḥusayn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad told us, “Sulaymān ibn al-Ḥasan told us:
Abū al-ʿAbbās ibn al-Furāt said: I attended Ibn Bulbul’s audience when he was holding an open session. Petitioners entered, and he examined their cases; no one left without a stipend, a governorship, the fulfillment of a need, or the redress of a grievance. One man remained at the end of the session asking him to waive the rent on his village.
He said, ‘Al-Muwaffaq has ordered me not to remit anything without his permission; I shall inform him.’
The man pleaded with us, saying, ‘If the vizier delays me, my condition will be ruined.’
So he said to his secretary, ‘Write his request in the memorandum.’
The man then turned away—