Bujkam the Turk (1), who held the office of Commander of Commanders in Baghdad before the Buyids, was a prudent man who understood Arabic but would not speak it, saying, “I fear that I might err, and an error from a ruler is disgraceful.” Nevertheless, he loved knowledge and its people, possessed immense wealth, and was lavish in charity. He began building the bimaristan (hospital) of Baghdad but did not complete it; ʿAḍud al-Dawla ibn Būyah later restored it. Bujkam (2) was wont to say, “Justice is the most profitable venture for a ruler in this world and the next.”
He used to bury great sums of money in the deserts; when he died, no one knew where they were. The boon companions of the Caliph al-Radi had come down to Bujkam while he was in Wāsiṭ, after he had undertaken to farm its revenues for eight hundred thousand dinars. They spent their evenings with him as they had with the caliph, though he understood little of what they said. The physician Sinān ibn Thābit the Ṣābian treated his temperament until his character softened, his conduct improved, and his harshness diminished; yet he did not live much longer after that.
A man once entered upon him, admonished him, and moved him to tears. Bujkam ordered that the man be given one thousand dirhams, and a servant followed him with the money. Bujkam said to those present, “I doubt he will accept it; this man is worn out by worship—what use has he for dirhams?” The servant returned empty-handed. “Did he take them?” Bujkam asked. “Yes,” he replied. Bujkam remarked, “All of us are fishermen, but the nets differ.”
He died with nine nights remaining in Rajab of this same year. The cause was that he went out hunting, met a band of Kurds, belittled them, and fought them. One of them struck him and killed him. His rule over Baghdad lasted two years, eight months, and nine days. He left behind more than two million dinars in cash and property, all of which was seized by al-Muttaqi li-Allah.
Abu Muhammad al-Barbahārī the preacher (3)—al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ibn Khalaf, Abu Muhammad, al-Barbahārī—was an ascetic scholar, a Hanbali jurist, and a preacher. He accompanied al-Marwazī and Sahl al-Tustarī, and he refrained from accepting his father’s inheritance—seventy thousand [dirhams]—because of something he disapproved of. He was stern with the people of innovation and sin and was held in high regard by both elite and common folk.
One day, while preaching to the people, he sneezed, and those present invoked Allah’s mercy upon him (4); then everyone who heard them did the same, until the people of Baghdad as a whole echoed the blessing. The commotion reached the caliphal palace, and the caliph grew jealous. Some members of the court spoke against him, so an order for his arrest was issued, and he went into hiding with his sister—