Biographical Overview
ʿAbdallāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd ibn Sufyān ibn Qays, al-Umawī, Abū Bakr ibn Abī d-Dunyā, al-Baġdādī. The ḥāfiẓ (hadith memorizer), the muḥaddiṯ (hadith scholar), and author of famous and beneficial works. He was the tutor of the caliphs' children. He was also among the preachers who possessed a deep mastery of the arts of eloquence and what conforms to human nature: if he wished, he could make his companion laugh, and if he wished, he could make him weep. Abū Ḥātim and others declared him trustworthy (waṯṯaqahu). He authored extensively, with his writings reaching 164 works, including: al-ʿAẓama (The Greatness); aṣ-Ṣamt (The Silence); al-Yaqīn (The Certainty); Ḏamm ad-Dunyā (The Dispraise of the World); aš-Šukr (The Gratitude); al-Faraǧ baʿda š-Šidda (Relief After Distress), and others. His birth and death took place in Baghdad.
Quoted from:
Al-Mawsūʿa al-ʿArabiyya al-ʿĀlamiyya (The Global Arabic Encyclopedia) http://www.mawsoah.net