It is related that Abū al-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrī was asked, “Who is the foremost poet among the three—Abū Tammām, al-Buhturī, and al-Mutanabbī?” He replied, “Two of them are sages, and the poet is al-Buhturī.”

Al-Buhturī produced a Hamasah anthology akin to the Hamasah of Abū Tammām, as well as a work entitled Maʿānī al-Shiʿr (The Nuances of Poetry).

He died in Manbij (1); others say in Aleppo, in 283 or 284 AH (2). He owned estates in Manbij and left two grandsons—Abū ʿUbādah and ʿUbayd Allāh, sons of Yaḥyā ibn al-Buhturī—whom al-Mutanabbī praised. Both were leading notables of their time.

In the same year there also died the poet of his age, Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Abī al-ʿAbbās Ibn al-Rūmī (3), renowned for his exquisite similes.

234 – Ibn al-Aghlab, Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm ibn Aḥmad al-Tamīmī *

The ruler of the Maghreb, Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm ibn Aḥmad ibn al-Aghlab ibn Ibrāhīm ibn al-Aghlab ibn Tamīm, the Tamīmī al-Aghlabī of Qayrawān, a descendant of the city’s emirs.

He assumed power in 261 AH.

He was a resolute, firm, and awe-inspiring monarch; under his reign merchants could travel in complete safety from Egypt