He—al-Qādīsī—was a regular at the gatherings of Shaykh Abū al-Faraj Ibn al-Jawzī. Whenever he heard one of the Shaykh’s astonishing reports he would brighten and exclaim, “By Allah, that is delightful!” On one occasion the Shaykh asked to borrow ten dinars from him, yet he refused, and thereafter he would attend but remain silent. One day the Shaykh remarked, “Here is al-Qādīsī: he will neither lend us anything nor even say, ‘By Allah, that is delightful!’ May Allah have mercy on them all.”

Al-Qādīsī was once summoned to the palace of the caliph al-Mustaḍīʾ to lead him in the tarāwīḥ prayer. In the caliph’s presence someone asked him, “Which school of law do you follow?” “Ḥanbalī,” he replied. “Then you may not lead the prayer in the palace while professing Ḥanbalī doctrine,” the man said. He answered, “I am Ḥanbalī, and I will not lead you.” The caliph intervened: “Leave him—no one shall lead us but he,” and al-Qādīsī led the prayer.

Abū al-Karam al-Muẓaffar ibn al-Mubārak (1) ibn Aḥmad [ibn Muḥammad] (2) al-Baghdādī, a Ḥanafī, was shaykh of the shrine of Abū Ḥanīfah and other sites. He also held the office of muḥtasib on the western side of Baghdad. Learned, devout, and a poet, some of his verse (3) reads:

Safeguard your soul with comely patience and seize
the noble virtues before their reward slips away.
Live (4) untroubled—let what is said of you be refined—
be generous; the hardest trials will grow easy.
The days roll on and all must pass—
all passes (5) and both their sweetness and their pain perish.
Time (6) is nothing but a single day and night;
life is only their folding up and flight.
Prudence lies in storing (7) firm resolve,
and in you (8) excellence finds its purest core.
Put aside the dreams (9) that idle wishes weave:
one day their folly and their truth will be laid bare.

Muḥammad ibn Abī al-Faraj ibn Barakah, Shaykh Fakhr al-Dīn Abū al-Maʿālī al-Mawṣilī.