تحفة النظار في غرايب الامصار وعجايب الاسفار 12.26.4

12.26.4

One day in Baghdad, after my return from Hind, I was sitting at the door of the Mustanṣiriyya college built by his grandfather, the Commander of the Faithful al-Mustanṣir, may God be pleased with him, when I saw a young man in poor circumstances running after a man coming out of the college. One of the students said to me: "This young man you see is the son of the amīr Muḥammad, the grandson of the caliph al-Mustanṣir, who is in Hind." I called him and said to him: "I have come from Hind, and I can give you news of your father!!" He said: "News of him reached me in these days," and went on running after the man. I asked about the man and was told: "He is the administrator of the endowment, and this young man is imām at one of the mosques, for which he has a wage of one dirham a day, and he is asking the man for his wage." I was greatly astonished at [his father]: by God, had he sent him one of the jewels from the robes of honour that reached him from the Sultan, he would have made him rich with it. We seek refuge in God from such a state.