in 418 AH. He then remained in office for the whole of al-Ẓāhir’s reign and, after him, for his son al-Mustanṣir, until the aforesaid vizier al-Jarjarāʾī died in 436 AH. During his ministry he pursued gross tyranny. The official who signed documents for him was the judge Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Quḍāʿī, author of the book “al-Shihāb,” whose customary closing formula on the vizier’s behalf was: “Praise be to Allah, in thanks for His favour.”
The person who had cut off his arms at the elbows was al-Ḥākim, after a betrayal on al-Jarjarāʾī’s part that came to light in 404 AH; yet in 409 AH al-Ḥākim employed him again in certain posts. When al-Ḥākim—may Allah curse him—disappeared on 29 Shawwāl 411 AH and his son al-Ẓāhir succeeded him, al-Jarjarāʾī’s circumstances shifted from one post to another until, as has already been noted, he was made vizier in 418 AH.
One of the poets satirised him, saying:
O simpleton, listen first and speak thereafter;
abandon buffoonery and pretended wit.
Do you rank yourself among the trustworthy—
granting, for argument’s sake, that your claim were true?
If integrity and God-fearing were really yours,
why were your hands cut off at the elbows?
[Among the notable people who died this year]
Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Thaʿālibī (1)—also pronounced al-Thuʿlabī; the name is a sobriquet, not a lineage—the celebrated exegete of Nīshāpūr.
He composed the Great Commentary (al-Tafsīr al-Kabīr) and the book “al-ʿArāʾis” (2) on the stories of the prophets, among other works. Abundant in ḥadith and widely travelled for learning, his books therefore contain a great many rare reports.
ʿAbd al-Ghāfir ibn Ismāʿīl al-Fārisī mentioned him in “The History of Nīshāpūr” (3) and praised him, saying, “His transmission is sound and he is trustworthy.” He died in 427 AH.
Others say he passed away on Wednesday, with seven days remaining of Muḥarram that year, and several righteous dreams were seen concerning him.
Al-Samʿānī (4) remarked: “Nīshāpūr was once a bed of reeds, and Shāpūr II ordered that it be built into a city; ‘nī’ means ‘reed’ in Persian. Allah knows best.”