He was lauded by a number of scholars, among them Ibn ʿAqīl and Ibn al-Jawzī (1) — may Allah have mercy on him.

ʿAbd al-Bāqī ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn Dāwūd ibn Nāqiyā (2), Abū al-Qāsim the poet, hailed from the Ṭāhirid quarter of the sacred precinct. He was born in 410 AH. A cultured man and an accomplished poet, he was nevertheless accused by some of adopting the doctrines of the early philosophers. He denied that there are, in heaven—that is, in Paradise—rivers of water, milk, wine, or honey, saying that not a single drop falls from them except the rain that ruins and destroys rooftops. Such speech is outright disbelief, and may Allah curse the one who uttered it; Ibn al-Jawzī relates the report in al-Muntaẓim. Some narrate that, when he died, the following two verses were found written in the palm of his hand:

I have lodged with a Neighbor who never lets His guest go disappointed;
I hope thereby to be saved from the torment of Jahannam (Hellfire).
Though fear of Allah fills my heart, I trust in His bounty—
and Allah is the most generous Bestower.

Mālik ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī ibn Ibrāhīm (3), Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Bāniyāsī al-Shāmī—his mother had given him another name, ʿAlī, Abū al-Ḥasan, yet the name chosen by his father prevailed—studied hadith under many shaykhs and was the last person to transmit from Abū al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ṣalt. He died in the Rayḥāniyyīn market (4) at the age of eighty, and the hadith scholars regarded him as trustworthy.

Sultan Malikshah (5), Jalāl al-Dīn wa-l-Dawla, Abū l-Fatḥ Malikshah ibn Abī Shujāʿ Alp Arslan ibn Dāwūd ibn Mikāʾīl ibn Saljūq ibn Tuqāq the Turk, ruled from the furthest reaches of the Turkish lands to the farthest borders of Yemen. Kings from every clime corresponded with him, including the ruler of Byzantium, the Khazars, and the Alans. His administration was firm, and the roads in his days were safe. Despite his majesty he would stand to see to the needs of the poor, women, and the weak, and he erected monumental buildings, built bridges, and abolished—