and seventy; another report places it in eighty-six. ⦗1⦘
A different authority said that he was killed in 479 AH, while yet another held that it was in 487 AH, in Khūzistān. These two statements were transmitted by Qāḍī Shams al-Dīn Ibn Khallikān, who added: “His own slave-boys slew him, seized his wealth, and fled.” ⦗2⦘
Among his poetry ⦗3⦘:
“Strike your tents and leave a land that has disgraced you;
shun humiliation, for humiliation is to be avoided. ⦗4⦘
Set out when your homeland turns to ruin,
for moist sandalwood, in the place where it grows, is treated as mere firewood. ⦗5⦘⦗6⦘⦗7⦘”
He also said ⦗8⦘:
“When we came to a halt, our hearts burst into tears;
on that day, the one who withheld his tears was like the one who let them flow. ⦗9⦘⦗10⦘
So, my scorched heart, don the robe of grief—
parting from the one you love has clothed you in it. ⦗11⦘”
(1) For that reason he listed him among the deaths for both years; see al-Muntazam 9:5 and 79. Ibn Kathir followed him in al-Bidaya 12:143 and 145.
(2) See Wafayat al-Ayan 3:306.
(3) The data are recorded in Mu jam al-Udaba 15:106; Wafayat al-Ayan 3:306; Tadhkirat al-Huffaz 4:1206; and al-Bidaya wa-l-Nihaya 12:124.
(4) Wafayat al-Ayan and al-Bidaya read yajtanib (“avoid”).
(5) Mu jam al-Udaba has manqisa (“a defect”), whereas Wafayat al-Ayan and al-Bidaya read: wa irhal idha kana fi-l-awtan manqisa (“so depart if remaining in one’s homeland entails disgrace”).
(6) mandal, pronounced like maqad, denotes fresh agarwood used for incense, or its finest variety.
(7) Mu jam al-Udaba reads al-hatab (“firewood”).
(8) The two verses are quoted in Mu jam al-Udaba 15:104; Tadhkirat al-Huffaz 4:1206; Fawat al-Wafayat 3:111; and al-Nujum al-Zahira 5:116.
(9) Mu jam al-Udaba and Fawat al-Wafayat read tafarraqna (“we parted”); the phrase is corrupted in Tadhkirat al-Huffaz to tawafaqna (“we agreed”) and in al-Nujum al-Zahira to tawafina.
(10) In Yaqut’s version the word inda replaces yawm.
(11) Fawat al-Wafayat and Mu jam al-Udaba read faya nafsi (“O my soul”).