Machine summary:
Uncomplimentary verses were not, the usual lot of Ibn-Abi-Duwad, for his praises were celebrated by a number of contemporary poets.
Tammarn with Ibn-Abi-Duwad, to' whom he was making a man · recite a poem, wherein were these lines :- " The generosity of Ahmad-ibn-Duwad, which he has shown to me, has caused all the huzn (afflictions) of evil Fortune to be forgotten !
. On the appointment of Ibn-Abi-Duwad to the office ?f Inspector of Grievances, Abu Tammam addressed · his complaints to him in a poem, which contains the following passage:- " Since your ghajlat (neglect) causes the ruin of saj' (poetry) and shu'ara (poets); · ",No one need wonder if saj' and shncara perish through' the neglect of the ghuraba (foreignersl+: " Yet nazm (poetry) like a heavily laden naqat (she• camel) stirs min taraf ila'taraf from side to sid~, and en• deavours to rise upon its feet with the huml zalini (heavy burden) you have put upon it since you became a musallih.
" Tell them that the Apostle of Allah and the Khalifs belong to that Asl ( origin) which is ours, and that Ahmad-Ibn-Duwad comes from it also1.
The Khalif having taken his seat, the Qadi-al-Qudat (Ahmad-ibn-Abi-Duwdd) went to a place inferior to his own, whereupon Al-Mu'tassim said : "Abfi• 'Abdullah1, you are sitting out of your place!
the prince of Arabs is truly Ahmad-ibn-Abi-Duwad, the noble and the just Qadi-al-Qudat of the Commander of the Faithful !