he was pressed to hand it back, but he denied having it; he was tortured with every manner of torment, yet he confessed to nothing. Al-Rāḍī bi-Allāh then had him brought in, showed him favor, and said, “You see how insistently the troops are demanding funds from us. Whatever you are keeping will not benefit you—own up to it.” He answered, “Well then, since you insist (1), I buried the money in the garden.”

He had in fact laid out a garden stocked with every kind of fruit tree, together with a richly decorated palace. “In what spot exactly?” asked the Caliph. “I am blind and cannot find the place,” he replied; “dig up the garden and you will come upon it.” They therefore dug up the garden, the very foundations of the palace, and even uprooted the trees, but nothing was found. “Where is the money, then?” the Caliph demanded. “What money do I have?!” he retorted. “My only satisfaction lay in seeing you sit and luxuriate in that garden, so I deprived you of it (2).”

The Caliph banished him and threw him into prison, where he remained until 333 AH. He was then removed to the residence of Ibn Ṭāhir, sometimes kept under guard and at other times neglected.

On one occasion he stood in the Great Mosque between the rows of worshipers, wearing a white cloak, and cried out, “Give charity to me, for I am the man you all know.” He meant thereby to bring disgrace upon the Caliph al-Mustakfī. Ibn Abī Mūsā al-Hāshimī came forward and gave him one thousand dirhams, after which they prevented him from leaving (3).

He died in 339 AH at the age of fifty-three. His sons were ʿAbd al-Ṣamad, Abū al-Qāsim, Abū al-Faḍl, and ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz (4).

His viziers were Abū ʿAlī ibn Muqla, followed by Muḥammad ibn al-Qāsim, then al-Khaṣībī. He appointed Aḥmad ibn Kayghalagh governor of Egypt after its commander Tikīn al-Khāṣṣa passed away (5).