And it is mentioned (1) that the cause of his death was that al-Qāsim ibn ʿUbayd Allāh, the vizier of al-Muʿtaḍid, feared his satirical attacks and the slips of his tongue, so he secretly sent someone who, while in his presence, fed him a poisoned khashkunāna (2) (a stuffed pastry). When he felt the poison, he rose to leave.
The vizier asked, “Where are you going?”
He replied, “To the place to which you have dispatched me (3).”
The vizier said, “Then convey my greetings to my father.”
He answered, “I shall not pass by the Fire.”

Muhammad ibn Sulaymān ibn al-Ḥārith: Abū Bakr al-Bāghandī al-Wāsiṭī (4) was one of the ḥuffāẓ; it is reported that Abū Dāwūd used to consult him about ḥadīth, yet the critics spoke against him and deemed him weak.

Muhammad ibn Ghālib ibn Ḥarb: Abū Jaʿfar al-Ḍabbī, known as Tamtām (5). He heard (ḥadīth) from ʿAffān, Qabīṣa, and al-Qaʿnabī, and he was counted among the trustworthy. Al-Dāraquṭnī said, “He would sometimes err.” He died in Ramaḍān at the age of ninety.

Al-Buḥturī the poet (6): the owner of the celebrated Dīwān, al-Walīd ibn ʿUbāda—some say: ibn ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Yaḥyā—Abū ʿUbāda al-Ṭāʾī al-Buḥturī (7), the poet. His family was from Manbij. He came to Baghdad and praised al-Mutawakkil and other dignitaries; his verse in panegyric was better than his elegies, and when asked about this he said, “Praise is for hope, whereas elegies are for loyalty, and between the two there is a distance.”

His poetry was transmitted by al-Mubarrad, Ibn Durustawayh, and Ibn al-Marzubān. It was said to him, “They claim you are a finer poet than Abū Tammām.” He replied, “Were it not for Abū Tammām I would not have eaten bread; Abū Tammām was our teacher.”

Al-Buḥturī was an urbane, eloquent, and fluent poet. He returned to his home town and died there in this very year—others say, in the following one—at the age of eighty.