al-Ṣāḥib ibn ʿAbbād (1), who received him graciously, treated him with respect, and asked him about some [scholarly] question (2). He answered, “I do not know; acknowledging one’s ignorance is half of knowledge.” Al-Ṣāḥib replied, “You have spoken truly, and your father had already attained the other half.” (3)

Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Durayd ibn ʿAtāhiyah (4)⁠—better known as Abū Bakr ibn Durayd, the Azdite philologist, grammarian, and poet, author of the poem al-Maqṣūrah (5).

He was born in Basra in 223 AH, journeyed through various lands in pursuit of learning and letters, and—though his father was a man of means—came to Baghdad only when he was advanced in age; there he remained until his death.

He transmitted traditions from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, the nephew of al-Aṣmaʿī, from Abū Ḥātim, and from al-Riyāshī. In turn, Abū Saʿīd al-Sīrāfī, Abū Bakr ibn Shādhān, Abū ʿUbayd Allāh al-Marzubānī, and others transmitted from him.

People would say: “He was the most learned of the poets and the most poetic of the scholars.” Yet he was openly dissolute (6) in his drinking.

Abū Manṣūr al-Azharī said, “I once entered upon him and found him drunk, so I never returned to him.” (7)

When al-Dāraquṭnī was asked about him, he replied, “People have spoken against him.”

Ibn Shāhīn said, “We used to visit him and would be embarrassed by the lutes hanging up [and other musical instruments] (8) and the clarified wine, even though he had passed ninety and was nearing one hundred. (9)”

He died on a Wednesday, twelve days remaining of Shaʿbān. On that same day Abū Hāshim ibn Abī ʿAlī [the Muʿtazilī al-Jubbāʾī] (10) also died; one funeral prayer was performed for them both, and they were buried in the Khayẕarāniyyah cemetery. People remarked, “Today the science of language and the science of theology have died.” It was a rainy day.