ibn al-Maʾmūn, ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAli ibn ʿIsa ibn al-Jarrah, and Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Thābit.

Al-Ṣūlī said: “Since the death of al-Qāsim ibn ʿUbayd Allah (1) I have not seen a vizier more graceful in movement, more charming in gesture, more elegant in script, more prodigious in memorization, more forceful with the pen, more precise in eloquence, or more able to captivate the hearts of caliphs than Ibn Muqla.

He possessed expert knowledge of grammatical inflection, an extensive command of the language, and exquisitely worded official rescripts (2).

Ibn al-Najjār relates: ‘His first appointment was with Muḥammad ibn Dāwūd ibn al-Jarrah when he was sixteen years old, and he received a monthly stipend of six dinars. He then moved to Ibn al-Furāt. When Ibn al-Furāt assumed the vizierate he favored him, putting him in charge of presenting petitions, so his wealth increased until he himself said:

When Ibn ʿĪsā requested release from the vizierate, Ibn Muqla was recommended to al-Muqtadir billāh, who invested him in Rabīʿ al-Awwal 316 AH. He was dismissed in 318 AH after two years and four months.

When al-Muqtadir was killed and al-Qāhir was acclaimed, Ibn Muqla was living in exile at Shiraz. Al-Qāhir summoned al-Muqtadir’s vizier, Abū al-Qāsim ʿUbayd Allah ibn Muḥammad, and informed him that he had appointed Abū ʿAlī, asking him to act in his stead until he arrived. Abū ʿAlī reached Baghdad on the Day of Sacrifice in 320 AH and remained in office until he became uneasy with al-Qāhir; nine months later he went into hiding. He then turned the troops against al-Qāhir, uniting them to depose and kill him, and they succeeded.

Al-Rāḍī then received the oath of allegiance; Abū ʿAlī was granted safe-conduct, emerged, and again served as vizier. After two years he was dismissed and went into hiding once more. He later wrote to al-Rāḍī billāh urging him to confine Bujkam in place of Ibn Rāʾiq and to reinstate him as vizier, guaranteeing a sum of money; he also wrote to Bujkam. Al-Rāḍī enticed him with promises until he had him within his reach, then sought a legal opinion from the jurists, who ruled that his hand should be amputated. Accordingly, his hand was cut off in Shawwāl of the year—