Anecdotes from His Life:

Whenever Ibn Abī al-Dunyā sat with someone, he could make him laugh or weep at will, all in the same sitting, owing to his vast knowledge and command of historical reports(1).

Umar ibn Saʿd al-Qarātīsī said: “We were waiting at Ibn Abī al-Dunyā’s door when it began to rain. A maidservant came to us with a note, which I read, and on it were written these lines(2):

I yearn to see you, O friends who are
My very hearing and my sight.
How could I forget you when my heart is with you,
Though this rain now keeps us apart?”

Among his own verses were also the following(3):

When you take men as companions, be one
Who serves each comrade as though he were his slave;
And be like water, sweet and cool,
Quenching the thirst of every friend.

He wrote to al-Muʿtadid and his son al-Muktafī, having served as tutor to them both(4):

A tutor’s due is a father’s due
Among all those of wisdom and nobility;
And those most bound to know and honor it
Are the people of the House of Prophethood.

Al-Kharāʾitī reported (5) from Alī ibn al-Husayn, who said: “Ibn Abī al-Dunyā recited these lines to me:

If I knew a station beyond gratitude,
More prized with Allah than gratitude itself,
I would offer it to you, sincere and pure,
In equal measure to the kindness you have shown.”