Muḥammad al-Sabti the Carpenter (1). Some classed him among the abdal (the spiritual “substitutes”). Abu Shama (2) relates: He was the one who built, from his own wealth, the mosque west of Dar al-Rakuwa, on the left of anyone walking down the street. He was buried on the mountain, and his funeral was thronged with mourners. May Allah have mercy on him.

al-ʿAbbadi the Poet. Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Sālim ibn Yazbak ibn Muḥammad ibn Muqallad al-ʿAbbadi, a poet from al-Ḥadītha, visited Baghdad many times and composed panegyrics for al-Mustansir (3) and others. He was a cultivated man and an accomplished poet, given especially to love-lyrics.

Abū Yūsuf Yaʿqūb ibn Ṣābir al-Ḥarrānī (4), later of Baghdad, known as al-Manjanīqī, excelled in his specialty and was a masterful poet, graceful in diction and rich in meaning. Ibn al-Saʿī (5) cites a fine selection of his verses; among the best is an ode that offers profound consolation to all people (6). It opens:

He says — in the khafīf meter —

Is there any everlasting life for the one who hopes to abide,
when everything other than Allah is fated to pass away?

He who was fashioned from dust must, though he live long,
return at last to dust (7).

The destiny of all mankind is only what
befell their fathers and their grandfathers.

Where is Eve? Where is Adam, when
paradise, repose, and eternal life eluded them?

Where is Abel, where is Cain—when against each
there rose a stubborn, envious foe (8)?

Where is Noah, and those who were saved with him in the Ark,
while the whole world has become bereft?

The passing days surrendered him, like a child, to death,
and his extended lifespan (9) availed him nothing.

Where are ʿĀd—indeed, where is even the Garden of ʿĀd?
And where, tell me, are Ṣāliḥ and Thamūd?

Where is Abraham, he who raised the House of Allah,
that venerated, much-sought sanctuary?