and among those who transmitted from him were Yaḥyā ibn al-Nadīm, Aḥmad ibn ʿAmmār, and Abū Yūsuf Yaʿqūb ibn Naʿīm ibn Qarqāra al-Azdī.
Ibn ʿAsākir said (1): “He was a cultivated man, a preserver of poetry, the author of excellent books. He composed eulogies for al-Maʾmūn, sat in the company of al-Mutawakkil, died in the days of al-Muʿtaḍid, and fell into mental disturbance at the end of his life.”
Ibn ʿAsākir also related (2) on the authority of al-Balādhurī: “Mahmūd al-Warrāq once said to me, ‘Compose verses whose memory will endure while their sin is lifted from you.’ So I said:
Prepare, O soul, for death, and strive for salvation—
the prudent one is he who makes ready.
I have come to see that no living being is immortal,
and that there is no escape from death.
You are but a borrower of what you will soon return,
and every loan must be repaid. (3)
You grow heedless while events never fall asleep;
you amuse yourself while the fates keep count. (4)
What kingship on earth, what portion can a man claim
when all the earth will grant him is a grave?
Do not hope for permanence in the very realm of death,
in a dwelling whose dooms are destined for you.
How can anyone delight in the sweetness of days
when his every breath within them is numbered?
The Caliphate of al-Muʿtaḍid bi-Llāh (5), Commander of the Faithful Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad, [son of the prince Abū Aḥmad al-Muwaffaq ibn Jaʿfar al-Mutawakkil] (6).
He was one of the finest and most capable of the ʿAbbāsid caliphs. The oath of allegiance was sworn to him on the morning of al-Muʿtamid’s death, with ten days left of Rajab in this year, 279 AH. The institution of the caliphate had been in decline, and he revived it through his energy, justice, nobility, firmness, and courage. He appointed ʿUbayd Allah ibn Sulaymān ibn Wahb as vizier and placed his freedman Badr over the police in Baghdad. Gifts arrived from ʿAmr ibn al-Layth, who sought appointment to the governorship of Khurasan; the caliph granted his request, sending him robes of honor and the banner of investiture. ʿAmr ibn al-Layth set the banner up in his residence for three days in celebration (7).
He dismissed Rāfiʿ ibn Harthama from the governorship of Khurasan, and ʿAmr ibn al-Layth entered the province, pursuing Rāfiʿ from one town to the next.