Ibn Khallikān added: It is also said that he was born in 284 AH, the year in which the poet al-Buḥturī died. He records for him a number of works, among them al-Aghānī, al-Diyārāt, Ayyām al-ʿArab, and others (1).

Saif al-Dawla (2) [ibn Ḥamdān, lord of Aleppo] (3), Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Abī al-Hayjāʾ ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥamdān (4) ibn Ḥamdūn al-Taghlibī al-Rabaʿī, known by the honorific Saif al-Dawla, was one of the valiant princes and exceptionally benevolent kings—despite his Shiʿite leanings. At times he ruled Damascus. Unusual matters are told of him: his preacher was the author of the Nabati sermons, an orator of peerless eloquence; his court poet was al-Mutanabbī; and his musician was Abū Naṣr al-Fārābī. He was [generous] (5), open-handed, widely praised, and prodigal in bestowing great gifts.

Among his verses to his brother Nāṣir al-Dawla, ruler of Mosul, are the following:

I yielded the heights to you (6) though I was fit for them;
I said to the people, “What difference lies between me and my brother?”
I did not recoil from them; I simply waived my right,
and so the whole claim was perfected for you.
Were you not pleased that I should follow you in prayer (7),
when I am pleased that you should take the lead? (8)

He also said:

His blood has mingled with his tears—
how long will you go on wronging him?
Avert your gaze from him, for (9)
the arrows of that glance have already wounded him.
How can he show endurance when (10)
the very stirrings of imagination bring him pain?

The cause of his death was paralysis; others say urinary obstruction. He died in Aleppo, and his bier was carried to Mayyāfāriqīn, where he was buried.