The Buyid wazir Abū I-Faḍl Ibn al-'Amīd (died 970 A.D.) became famous as a poet and expert in epistolary literature (insą'), but also as a scholar and scientist. Until now our only source of information was from fragments and quotations in later literature. Fortunately, two Arabic manuscripts from the 12th and 13th centuries have been preserved containing seven letters which were sent to the Buyid emir 'Aḍudaddaula, and confirming posterity's high opinion of him. Moreover, they reveal the originality of a personality which, based on the knowledge of Greek and...