Abū al-Ḥasan ibn al-Marzubān said: Abū Muḥammad ibn Māsi of Dār Kaʿb used to send Abū ʿUmar Ghulām Thaʿlab, time after time, enough for his personal expenses. Owing to an excuse he stopped the allowance for a while, then later dispatched the whole amount that had been due and wrote to him apologising. Abū ʿUmar returned the money and ordered that the following words be written on the back of his letter: “You honoured us and so took possession of us; then you turned away from us and thus gave us relief.” (1)

I say: What Abū ʿUmar said is correct, but his reply was not well-phrased. If the man had indeed gained mastery over him through his former generosity, that mastery still stands; the delay was made good by paying the entire sum at once and by his apology. Had he written instead, “then you left us and thereby set us free,” it would have been more fitting.

Al-Khaṭīb Abū Bakr, in his biographical entry on Abū ʿUmar the ascetic, said: “As for Ibn Māsi, I have no doubt that he is Ibrāhīm ibn Ayyūb, the father of Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh.” (2)

He also said: ʿAbbās ibn ʿUmar informed me, “I heard Abū ʿUmar the ascetic say: ‘Neglecting to fulfil the rights of one’s brethren is humiliation, while discharging their rights is elevation.’” (3)

Al-Khaṭīb added: I heard more than one person relate that the nobles and chancery-scribes used to frequent his gatherings in order to hear from him the books of Thaʿlab and others.

He possessed a fascicle in which he had compiled the merits of Muʿāwiyah; he would not allow anyone to read to him until they began by reading that fascicle. (4)

A number of the men of letters did not deem Abū ʿUmar reliable in the science of language until he said