[5] Following Sulayman's death in late 879, Ubaydallah was again appointed as head of security (shurtah) in Baghdad, this time as deputy to the Saffarid Amr ibn al-Layth, who had been granted that position by the central government.
[7] In August 889 he was restored to the shurtah following a rapprochement between the central government and 'Amr, but in 891 the Abbasid prince Abu al-Abbas ibn al-Muwaffaq (the future caliph al-Mu'tadid, r. 892–902) appointed his own page Badr al-Mu'tadidi to that position instead.
[8] During the reign of al-Mu'tadid Ubaydallah fell into a period of hardship, and in his last years he relied on financial assistance from prominent individuals such as al-Muktafi, Ibn al-Mu'tazz, and Ahmad and Ali of the Banu'l-Furat.
[1] Aside from his political career, 'Ubdaydallah was renowned for his extensive cultural patronage and expertise, leading the historian Clifford Edmund Bosworth to call him "the most celebrated of his family in the literary and artistic fields.
"[10] He was considered to be proficient in adab literature, poetry, grammar, history, geometry, and music, and his skills in these fields were praised by authors such as Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani and al-Shabushti.