and at nightfall he found the house finished; its people were calling down prayers for him, and he added a further five thousand dirhams to the owner’s capital.

It is also related that a merchant in Wāsiṭ bought a dirham’s worth of bread to give in charity. When he could not find a single pauper to take it, the baker told him, “You will not find anyone; all the needy are living on Ḥāmid’s stipend.”

Al-Ṣūlī says: He was much given to joking and was open-handed, yet he had little inclination for listening to poetry. If anyone opposed him in a matter he would raise his voice and sulk, but whoever humoured him reaped benefit from him.

Niftawayh relates: I heard him say that someone once asked a madman, “How long does it take for a man to go insane?” The madman replied, “That depends on the neighborhood urchins.”

On the third day of his vizierate he debated Ibn al-Furāt, shouted him down, used obscene language, tugged at his beard, and tortured his followers. When the tables were later turned and he was dismissed in favor of Ibn al-Furāt, the latter showed him no mercy and reproached him for his deeds. Ḥāmid said, “If what I did to you has brought me any good, then give me more of the same; but if it was disgraceful and has put me at your mercy, then fortunate is he who takes a lesson from the fate of others.”

Al-Ṣūlī continues: Ḥāmid was handed over to al-Muḥsin, who subjected him to every sort of torment. Whenever al-Muḥsin had been drinking he would summon him, dress him in a monkey skin, make him dance, and slap him; worse things were done to him that modesty prevents mentioning. He was then taken down to Wāsiṭ, poisoned, and people continued to perform funeral prayers at his grave for several days.

Aḥmad ibn Kāmil said: He died at Wāsiṭ; a few days later Ibn al-Furāt had his body transferred and buried in Baghdad.

I heard him say, “I was born in the year 23, and my father was one of the shahārida.”

I (the author) add: His death occurred in Ramaḍān of the year 311 AH.