I say: On this basis he would be older than Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, and older than Yaḥyā ibn Aktham—the man whom Ibn Khallikān says was the cause of his introduction to al-Maʾmūn. Al-Maʾmūn favored him so greatly that he commended him to his brother al-Muʿtaṣim; al-Muʿtaṣim then appointed him to the judiciary and removed Ibn Aktham from office. Al-Muʿtaṣim would not make any decision without consulting him; he treated him as an intimate and placed the courts and the Board of Grievances under his authority. The vizier Ibn al-Zayyāt despised him, and there was rivalry and satirical lampooning between them (1).

Ibn Khallikān (2) was extravagant in his biographical notice, showering him with praise, commendation, and a lengthy enumeration of his exploits and virtues—most delightful indeed. He mentioned none of his faults, referring only in passing, and with the lightest touch, to his trial of Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal—yet that very trial was the root (3) of all subsequent persecutions and the ordeal that opened for people the gates of tribulation.

[Ibn Khallikān] (4) also recorded the stroke of paralysis that afflicted him, the wealth confiscated from him, that his son Abū al-Walīd Muḥammad was fined one million two hundred thousand dinars, and that the son died a month before his father.

The ḥadith master Ibn ʿAsākir (5), for his part, treated his biography at length and explained it in an attractive fashion.

The man himself was cultured, eloquent, generous, and widely praised; he preferred giving to withholding and distributing to hoarding. Ibn ʿAsākir (6) relates with his chain that he once sat with his companions awaiting the appearance of al-Wāthiq, and the judge (7) said, “These two verses delight me:

I have a glance which—were it possible for a mere look to make a woman conceive—
would surely have made her pregnant through me.
So if she bears a son any time between nine months (8)
and the very moment of my gaze, that child is mine. (9)”

Among the notable figures who died this year were:
Abū Thawr, Ibrāhīm ibn Khālid al-Kalbī (10), one of the renowned jurists; Imām Aḥmad said: “He is, in our estimation, among…"