to combine the prayers. Abū Saʿd al-Samʿānī spoke against him, saying that he was remiss in performing the prayers. Ibn al-Jawzī (1) answered al-Samʿānī by citing his illness as an excuse; Allah knows best. He reached the age of eighty-five, died in Nīshāpūr in Rabīʿ al-Ākhir, and was buried in the cemetery of Yaḥyā ibn Yaḥyā—may Allah have mercy on him (2).

ʿAlī (3) ibn Aflah, Abū al-Qāsim the scribe:

The caliph al-Mustaʿrashid invested him with a robe of honor, granted him the title “Beauty of the Realm,” and gave him four houses. He already owned a house adjoining them, so he demolished all the buildings and on their site erected a magnificent mansion sixty cubits long and forty cubits wide. The caliph supplied him with timber, bricks, and gold, while Ibn Aflah spent a large sum of his own wealth on the project. Upon its doors and friezes he inscribed fine poetry—some his own, some by others. Among what is written over the main entrance (4) are these lines:

“If onlookers marvel (5) at my outward form,
Let them know that what lies within would amaze them more.
I was raised up (6) by a hand that is a rain-laden cloud (7)
Before which the pelting spring shower is put to shame (8).
The garden (9) of his noble character
Has adorned me with meadows whose radiance is gilded.
A patron has clothed my breast with his light—
A sun that will never set through all the days.”

And on the cornice is written:

(from the mujazūʾ of the kāmil metre)

“Part of a young man’s chivalry
Is that, while he lives, his house is his pride;
So be content with it in this world,
And work for the abode of the Hereafter.
That one (10) is faithful to what it has promised,
Whereas this one (11) merely mocks.”