Outside of his overseeing of the "mihnah", Ibn Abi Du'ad spent his time at court developing a reputation for moderation and compassion, interceding on several occasions to save individuals who had become subject to al-Mu'tasim's wrath from punishment and securing favors from the caliph for various patrons. At the same time, he came to play an important role in the fiscal affairs of the caliphate, his staff overseeing, for example, the division of spoils during the Amorium campaign in 838; he is also said to have pushed through an irrigation canal project in Khurasan, and following a large fire in Baghdad he was able to convince the caliph to entrust him with distributing five million "dirhams" for the relief of the citizens there. Ibn Abi Du'ad additionally took part in the move to the new capital of Samarra in 836, where he received a land allotment in the central city, and in 840 he presided over the heresy trial of the disgraced general al-Afshin.