ʿAmīd al-Juyūsh, the Vizier (1) al-Ḥusayn (2) ibn Abī Jaʿfar Ustād Hurmuz, Abū ʿAlī, vizier to Bahāʾ al-Dawlah, was born in 350 AH. His father had been one of the chamberlains of ʿAḍud al-Dawlah, and Bahāʾ al-Dawlah appointed him to oversee the vizierate in 392 AH. At that time disorder was widespread; he pacified the provinces, struck fear into the ʿayyārūn (brigands), and affairs were set right under his hand. He ordered one of his pages to carry a tray holding uncovered silver (3) from one end of Baghdad to the other, entering every alley. If anyone accosted him, he was to hand over the silver and note the place. The page went and no one confronted him, whereupon he praised and thanked Allah. He also forbade the Rāfiḍah (extreme Shiʿites) from the lamentations they used to perform on the Day of ʿĀshūrāʾ and from the innovated festival—and the rejoicing they practice—on the eighteenth of Dhū al-Ḥijjah, known as the Festival of Ghadīr Khumm (4). He was a just and equitable man.
Abū ʿUbayd al-Harawī (5), “the author of al-Gharībayn” (6)—Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn Abī ʿUbayd al-ʿAbdī—was a distinguished scholar of literature and language. His book al-Gharībayn, on the rare vocabulary of the Quran and hadith, bears witness to his vast learning and deep expertise in this field. He was one of the pupils of Abū Manṣūr al-Azharī (7). Ibn Khallikān (8) said: It is reported that he preferred plain dress (9), would partake [of drink] in private, and associated with men of letters.
(1) al-Muntazam (vol. 7: 252), al-Kāmil fī al-Tārīkh (vol. 9: 174–225), Siyar A‘lām al-Nubalā’ (vol. 17: 230), al-Nujūm al-Zāhira (vol. 4: 228), Shudhūrāt al-Dhahab (vol. 3: 160). In the printed edition this entry precedes the previous one, without any significant addition or omission.
(2) In the printed edition “al-Ḥasan” is a corruption; the correct name, as established from its sources, is Bashār.
(3) In the printed edition and in the Siyar the term used is “dirhams.”
(4) Ghadīr Khumm is a valley between Mecca and Medina where the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, in the presence of some Companions, said: “Are you not aware that I am closer to the believers than their own selves?” They replied, “Yes, O Messenger of Allah.” He then said, “Whoever I am his mawla (guardian), then ʿAlī is his mawla; O Allah, befriend whoever befriends him and oppose whoever opposes him.”
This hadith is recorded in Aḥmad’s Musnad (vol. 4: 370, no. 19302) via Fiṭr from Abu al-Ṭufayl, who reported that ʿAlī gathered the people at al-Raḥba and said: “By Allah, every Muslim who heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on the day of Ghadīr Khumm…” The same report appears in Ibn Ḥibbān (no. 6931) from ʿAlī—an authentic hadith—and again in Aḥmad (no. 19279) and al-Tirmidhī (no. 3713) from Zayd ibn Arqam, authenticated by its chains and supporting narrations.
(5) Wafayāt al-A‘yān (vol. 1: 90), Ṭabaqāt al-Subkī (vol. 4: 84), Siyar A‘lām al-Nubalā’ (vol. 17: 146), al-Nujūm al-Zāhira (vol. 4: 228), al-Wāfī bil-Wafayāt (vol. 8: 114), Shudhūrāt al-Dhahab (vol. 3: 161).
Ibn Khallikān states that al-Harawī—written with an initial hā’ and rā’—denotes origin from Harāt, one of the principal cities of Khurasan, which al-Ahnaf ibn Qays conquered by treaty on behalf of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr.
(6) Kitāb al-Gharībayn: in this work the author (may Allah have mercy on him) collected the rare words of the Qurʾān and the ḥadīth, arranged them alphabetically, and gathered everything previously mentioned in other books, thus rendering his compendium comprehensive in authenticity. (Kashf al-Ẓunūn 2: 1206.)
(7) Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn al-Azhar, a linguist, died in 370 AH. (Wafayāt al-A‘yān 4: 334.)
(8) Wafayāt al-A‘yān (vol. 1: 95).
(9) i.e. garments that have been softened for wear.