Muhammad ibn Abi'l-Azhar

A man of letters who transmitted two sessions about the poetry of Abu Tammam.

With Ibrahim ibn al-Mudabbir, who held a poor opinion of Abu Tammam and would swear he did nothing well. Muhammad read him some verses without naming their author; Ibn al-Mudabbir praised them until he was told who had written them, and then turned against him and reviled him. ²

From Abu Amr ibn al-Hasan al-Tusi: his father sent him to Ibn al-A'rabi to read to him the poetry of Hudhayl, and he recited to him a long poem by Abu Tammam. Ibn al-A'rabi asked to have it written down, and when he learned it was by Abu Tammam he changed his judgement of it. ²