He would oversee the courts of law, the grievances tribunal, inheritance cases, the ḥisbah (public oversight of markets and morals), and religious endowments.

He held one session for jurisprudence and another for hadith.

Ibrāhīm ibn Aḥmad al-Muʿaddal related to me that Abū ʿUbayd Allāh once bestowed upon a man whose circumstances had suddenly deteriorated—a man he did not even know—the sum of one thousand dinars in a single hour.

On the two festival days he fed the people in his residence, and scarcely any of the leading figures failed to attend. When a witness once arrived late to his court, he ordered that the man be imprisoned.

Abū Jaʿfar al-Ṭaḥāwī used to write for him, and in his presence would say to the litigants, “According to the judge’s school—may Allah support him—such-and-such is the ruling, and according to his view such-and-such,” thereby relieving him of the task… until Abū ʿUbayd Allāh sensed some haughtiness in al-Ṭaḥāwī and said, “What is this you are about?!”

He narrated hadith in both Egypt and Baghdad, though in Baghdad he had a quarrel with the hadith scholars. Courageous in heart and speech, he once noticed dejection on Khumārawayh’s face and asked, “What is the matter?” The ruler replied, “A shortage of funds and the commanders’ exclusive hold on the estates.”

The judge went out to those commanders—Badr, Fāʾiq, Ṣāfī, and a group with them—spoke to them in one of the palace chambers and said, “What is this the emir must endure?! By Allah, I shall tighten my swordbelt and support him myself.” He then agreed with them on certain measures that pleased Khumārawayh, who thanked him for them.

The standing of Abū ʿUbayd Allāh continued to strengthen until his time came to an end; meanwhile the townspeople turned against his associates and reviled them with the epithet al-Ṭahmānī. He remained in his post until Khumārawayh was killed in Damascus. When the prince’s coffin arrived, Abū ʿUbayd Allāh led the funeral prayer over him.

Then