His kunyah (teknonym) is Abū al-Qāsim al-Maghribī. He served as a vizier. He was born in Egypt in the month of Dhu al-Hijjah in the 390th year of the Hijra. When the ruler of Egypt, al-Ḥākim, killed his father and his uncle Muḥammad, he fled from there and first went to Mecca, then to Damascus. He served as a vizier in many places. He composed beautiful poetry. While conversing with one of the righteous, that righteous man recited the following poem to him:
“If you wish to live richly, do not be monotonous and remain the same. Otherwise, you consent to a state lower than the one you are in.”
After hearing this poem, he abandoned his rank and sovereignty and withdrew into seclusion. When one of his friends asked him, “Why did you leave your rank, sovereignty, and position at the strongest time of your youth?” he responded by reciting this poem:
“Once I was on the path of ignorance and waywardness.
Now courage has come to me.
I have repented from all sins.
Perhaps these words will erase the sins I committed before.
After forty-five, I ended these deeds.
Know that the God without beginning is exalted.”
Ḥasan b. ʿAlī passed away at the age of 45 in Silvan during the month of Ramaḍān of that year and was buried in Mashhad al-ʿAlī.