Hasan b. Muḥammad b. Hārūn al-Muḥallabī. He was the vizier of Muʿizzud-Dawla b. Buwayh. He served as vizier for thirteen years. He was a gentle, noble, and dignified person.
Abū Isḥāq al-Ṣādi related the following:
“One day I was with him. An ink-okka (a weight for ink) and a stand, beautifully decorated, made for him, were brought. Abū Muḥammad Faḍl b. ʿAbdallāh al-Shīrāzī, who was present, secretly said to me: ‘I really need this. I wish he would give it to me so I could sell it and benefit from the money.’ I replied, ‘If he gave it to you, what would he write with?’ He said, ‘If you go to his treasury, you will see how many okkas he has there.’ The vizier overheard us because he was listening, though we were unaware. In the evening, he sent the ink-okka and the stand to Abū Muḥammad al-Shīrāzī. He also sent ten sets of clothes and 5,000 dirhams, adding other gifts as well.”
Another day, we were again with the vizier Hasan b. Muḥammad. He was dipping his pen into his new ink-okka and signing documents. Then he looked at us and said, “Which of you wants this new okka?” We were embarrassed. We realized he had heard what we had been saying among ourselves and said, “May Allah bless the vizier with good from this okka and keep him alive so that he may grant us a similar one.”
Hasan b. Muḥammad al-Muḥallabī died at the age of sixty-four that year.