He governed Egypt in the year 297 AH, remaining there for five years in ever-growing prestige and authority. He then ruled Damascus for another five years. Afterwards he was restored to the governorship of Egypt, was dismissed, and was then reinstated, holding the province on behalf of al-Qāhir bi-llāh (1) until he died in Egypt in Rabīʿ al-Awwal, 321 AH. He was a man of awe and courage.
He transmitted from Yūsuf ibn Yaʿqūb al-Qāḍī. Among those who narrated from him was ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad al-Mādarāʾī, the vizier. His body was carried and he was buried in Bayt al-Maqdis (2).
- Ibn Durayd Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Durayd ibn ʿAtāhiyah*
The erudite savant, master of Arabic letters, Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Durayd ibn ʿAtāhiyah al-Azdi of Basra, author of many works. He travelled through Fars and the islands of the sea in pursuit of the sciences of literature and the language of the Arabs, surpassing the scholars of his age, and later settled in Baghdad. His father was a prominent man of wealth, and Abū Bakr himself composed fine poetry.
= al-Nujum al-Zahira, vol. 3, pp. 171, 174; Husn al-Muhadara, vol. 2, p. 13; Shadharat al-Dhahab, vol. 2, p. 289; Tahdhib Ibn Asakir, vol. 3, p. 340.
(1) His third term as governor was likewise conferred by the caliph al-Muqtadir. He had been dispatched to Egypt as amir in 311 AH, and, after al-Muqtadir’s assassination in 320 AH, the new caliph al-Qahir Billah confirmed him in office.
(2) Wulat Misr, p. 299.
(*) Muruju al-Dhahab, vol. 2, p. 518; Tabaqat al-Zubaydi, p. 201; Muʿjam al-Shuʿara, p. 425; al-Fihrist, pp. 91-92; Tarikh Baghdad, vol. 2, pp. 195-197; al-Ansab, vol. 5, pp. 305-306; Nuzhat al-Alba, pp. 175-178; Muʿjam al-Udaba, vol. 18, pp. 127-143; Inbah al-Ruwat, vol. 3, pp. 92-100; al-Muntazam, vol. 6, pp. 261-262; Wafayat al-Aʿyan, vol. 4, pp. 323-329; al-ʿIbar, vol. 2, p. 187; Mizan al-Iʿtidal, vol. 3, p. 520; al-Wafi bil-Wafayat, vol. 2, pp. 339-343; Mirʾat al-Jinan, vol. 2, pp. 282-284; Tabaqat al-Shafiʿiyya, vol. 3, pp. 138-142; al-Bidaya wa-l-Nihaya, vol. 11, pp. 176-177; Ghaya al-Nihaya, vol. 2, p. 116; Lisan al-Mizan, vol. 5, pp. 132-134; al-Nujum al-Zahira, vol. 3, pp. 240-241; Bughyat al-Wuʿat, pp. 30-33; Shadharat al-Dhahab, vol. 2, pp. 289-291.