100 – Majd al-Mulk, Abu al-Fadl Asʿad ibn Musa al-Balashani*
The grand vizier, Abu al-Fadl Asʿad ibn Musa al-Balashani, served Sultan Barkiyaruq. He was noted for goodness, fairness, piety, and little injustice, and he enjoyed great prestige and high rank. Later, however, he sought the support of the Batinis (1). It was said that he arranged the assassination of the amir Bursuq, whereupon the emirs grew hostile, rose against him, and repudiated Barkiyaruq. They pressed their case until they prevailed, and the sultan surrendered him to them, so they killed him. He was a Shi‘i (2) who had readied a palm frond and a piece of sacred soil in his shroud. Despite his doctrinal innovation, he observed the night vigil, engaged in devotions, and maintained a steady flow of gifts to the Alawid descendants.
He was killed in Ramadan of the year 492 AH.
101 – Ibn Khidam, Abu al-Hasan ‘Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Husayn**
The shaykh, the imam, the centenarian, the preacher, and the leading hadith transmitter of Bukhara: Abu al-Hasan ‘Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Husayn ibn Khidam al-Khidami (3), al-Bukhari.
…and He will exchange their fear for security. The Almighty has spoken the truth: “Allah has promised those of you who believe and do good works that He will surely make them successors on earth as He made those before them successors, will surely consolidate for them the religion He has approved for them, and will surely replace their state of fear with security: they worship Me without associating anything with Me. But whoever disbelieves after that—such people are the defiantly disobedient” (Q 24:55).
(*) Al-Kamil fi’l-tarikh, 10/289–291.
(1) Al-Kamil, 10/289: When the Batiniyya (Isma‘ili assassins) undertook the killing of the leading princes of the Saljuq state, the deed was attributed to him, and it was said that he was the one who had instructed them to carry it out.
(2) Al-Kamil: He inclined toward Shi‘ism, yet he spoke well of the Companions and invoked curses on anyone who reviled them.
(* *) Al-Ansab, 5/56–57; al-Lubab, 1/426; al-Mushtabih, 146; al-Jawahir al-mudiya, 2/605; al-Tabaqat al-saniyya, 1505.
(3) So in the autograph with a dotted dhal (dh). In the author’s Mushtabih, 1/146, however, it appears with a dotted kh: ‘Ali ibn Muhammad al-Khadhami, one of his forefathers being Khidham. Ibn Nasir al-Din remarks the same in Tawdiḥ al-mushtabih.