His kunyah was Abū Najm al-Kurdī. He was among the distinguished rulers of the Dīnavar and Hamadān region. He was a good statesman and politician. He gave much charity. The Caliph al-Qādir gave him the kunyah Abū Najm and the laqab Nāṣir al-Dawla. He prepared a banner for him and delivered it.
There was great security and peace in the cities and towns of his country. So much so that when a traveler’s animal became too tired to carry him, he would leave the animal with its load in the desert and continue on foot; the animal would later return to its owner. Even if a long time passed, nothing would be missing from the load on the animal.
Some emirs caused mischief in the country. He arranged a splendid banquet for them and presented exquisite dishes. But he did not bring bread to the table. The emirs began to wait for bread. When they saw the bread was delayed, they asked about the situation. He replied to them: "If you ruin the crops and wrong the farmers, how can bread come to you? From today onward, I do not want to hear that anyone causes mischief. Otherwise, I will shed his blood!"
Once, while traveling, he saw a man carrying a load of firewood on his back, crying. He asked the man: "Why are you crying?" The man said: "I had two loaves of bread with me, I was going to eat them, but one of the soldiers took them from me." He asked: "If you see that soldier, would you recognize him?" The man said: "Yes." He took him and stopped him at a narrow place in the gorge. He made all the soldiers pass before him. When the soldier who took the bread passed by, the man said: "This is the one who took my bread!" Bedir ordered the soldier to dismount and carry the man’s firewood load on his back to the city. Although the soldier wanted to pay a large sum of money to avoid carrying the wood, he refused so that the others would take heed and behave properly.
Bedir b. Ḥasnevayh spent 20,000 dirhams every Friday on the poor and widows. Every month he spent 20,000 dirhams to shroud the dead. Every year, on behalf of his mother and Adūd al-Dawla, he sent twenty people on pilgrimage as a substitute and spent 1,000 dinars on them, because Adūd al-Dawla was the reason for his accession to rulership. Also, every year in Hamadān and Baghdad, he gave 3,000 dinars to blacksmiths and shoemakers to make shoes for those stranded on the road and to shoe the hooves of mounts free of charge. Every year in Mecca and Medina, he spent 100,000 dinars distributing charity to those living as mujrirs (residents without full citizenship), repairing workshops, improving water sources on the Hijaz road, and digging wells. Whenever he encountered a water source on the road or during campaigns, he always had a village built nearby. In his time, he built more than 2,000 mosques and inns. He repaired other mosques and inns. Apart from these, he allocated salaries to jurists (faqīhs), judges (qāḍīs), muezzins, notables (ashrāf), martyrs, the poor, the destitute, widows, orphans, and many needy people from various classes. Moreover, he prayed much and performed dhikr. He had more than 20,000 mounts ready for jihad in the path of Allah. He died this year at over eighty years old. May Allah have mercy on him. He was buried in Mashhad al-ʿAlī. He left an inheritance of 140,000 dinars and more than 40,000 dirhams. May the Exalted Allah have mercy on him.
Ḥasan b. Ḥusayn b. Ḥamkān
His kunyah was Abū ʿAlī al-Hamadānī. He was among the Shāfiʿī jurists in Baghdad. Initially, he was engaged in ḥadīth. Abū Ḥāmid al-Marwazī and al-Azharī listened to ḥadīth from him and transmitted them. He was a weak narrator.