awe-inspiring, one of the outstanding men of the world.
He died in Egypt in 488 AH (1), and was succeeded by his son, who likewise bore the title “Amir al-Juyush” (2).
Another report states that Badr lived for about eighty years—may Allah pardon him.
The poet ʿAlqamah al-ʿUlami sought an audience with him but could not gain entrance, so he positioned himself along Badr’s route with ostrich feathers on his head and recited a few verses (3). They touched Badr, who stopped for him, ordered the courtiers to robe him in honorary garments, and granted him ten thousand. ʿAlqamah departed laden with an extraordinary number of robes and distributed some of them among a company of poets.
Badr (4) left behind immense wealth.
46 – Tutush, Tāj al-Dawlah, son of Alp Arslan son of Dāwud the Seljuk*
The king, Tāj al-Dawlah Tutush, son of the sultan Abū Shujāʿ Alp
(1) Hasan al-Muhadara, vol. 2, p. 204; Wafayat al-Ayan, vol. 2, p. 450; al-Wafi bi-l-Wafayat, vol. 10, p. 95.
(2) His biography will be given under entry no. 294 of this volume.
(3) The verses are reproduced exactly as in Ibn Khallikan, 2/449, and Ibn al-Athir, 10/236:
“We are the merchants, and these are our wares—
pearls, while the purchase is the bounty of your right hand.
Examine them with your hearing, for they are jewels
that only discerning ears will choose.
In Syria they lost their market; whenever hypocrisy wanes,
craftsmen are left idle.
So their traders brought them to you, borne on mounts
of hope and ambition,
until they made them kneel at your gate—before you
even the broker and the hawker stand aside.
You bestowed what neither Haram, nor Kaʿb, nor al-Qaqaʿ
ever granted in their day;
you outstripped all people in the quest for eminence—
after you they are nothing but followers.”
(4) The manuscript reads “Badra,” which is incorrect.
(*) On Tutush’s exploits and his seizure of Damascus and Aleppo, see Ibn al-Qalanisi, pp. 116, 120–125; al-Muntazam, 9/87–88; History of the Seljuk State, 75–78; al-Kamil fi al-Tarikh, 10/…