of them. He had upright sons who would forbid him from such conduct, yet he paid them no heed and continued in that way until he died on the night of Friday, the twenty-first of Rabiʿ al-Awwal. When the four qadis (1) were appointed, his cousin Taj al-Din, the son of Bint al-ʿAzz, was already acting independently in the judiciary. Ibn al-Sahib said to him, “I have not died until I have seen you holding only a quarter of the post.” Taj al-Din replied, “Be quiet, or I shall have them make you drink poison (2).” He retorted, “With your want of religion you would do it, and with their lack of sense they would heed you.”

He also composed verse praising the lowly hashish (3):
[from the khafīf metre]
“In the haze of hashish lies the aim of my desire,
O people (4) of intellect and understanding.
They have banned it without reason or transmitted proof;
unlawful indeed is declaring unlawful what is not.”

He likewise said: (5)
[mukhallaʿ al-basīṭ]
“O soul, incline toward youthful play,
for in diversion a young man lives.
Do not weary of a day’s drunkenness;
if wine is lacking, then let hashish suffice.”

And he also said:
[from the munsariḥ metre]
“I mixed hashish with wine together
and rejoiced, unable to find my way from drunkenness.
Whoever will show me the door of my school
shall, by Allah, earn the fullest reward.”

He lampooned al-Sahib Bahaʾ al-Din (6) ibn al-Hinna (7):
[from the mujtathth metre]
“Sit there and enjoy yourself (8),
yet toil you surely must.
You write complaints against me, Ibn Bahr (9):
whence came your material, O son of Hinna?”

Al-Sahib summoned him, had him beaten, and then ordered him to the maristan (mental hospital), where he remained for a year before being released.

Shams al-Din al-Isbahani (10), commentator on al-Razi’s al-Mahsul, is Muhammad ibn Mahmud ibn Muhammad ibn ʿAbbad al-Salmani, the eminent scholar.