In this excerpt from his biographical dictionary, Dhahabī writes that the Ṭāhirid prince ʿAbd Allāh b. Ṭāhir was learned in belles-lettres (taʾaddabu)and law (tafaqqahu), and that he composed poetry and prose. In her analysis of Islamic mirrors-for-princes literature on judging in Justice and Leadership in Early Islamic Courts, Louise Marlow uses this source to illustrate the ideal of a learned ruler.
This source is part of the Online Companion to the book Justice and Leadership in Early Islamic Courts, ed. Intisar A. Rabb and Abigail Krasner Balbale(ILSP/HUP 2017)—a collection of primary sources and other material used in and related to the book.