In that same year there died: the musnid of the age, Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥaddād of Isfahān (1); the Commander of the Armies al-Afḍal, son of the Commander of the Armies Badr al-Jamālī (2); the vizier Abū Ṭālib ʿAlī ibn Ḥarb al-Sumayramī; Abū al-Qāsim ʿAlī ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Qaṭṭāʿ, the philologist; and Hazarasp ibn ʿAwḍ al-Harawī, the traditionist.

252 – Al-Sumayramī, Abū Ṭālib ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī

The grand vizier, Abū Ṭālib ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī al-Sumayramī (3), minister to the Seljuq sultan Maḥmūd, was an exalted dignitary of great consequence—severe in his grip, oppressive, unjust, and of reprehensible conduct. He endowed a madrasa in Isfahān and furnished it with a magnificent library. He would say, “I have grown ashamed of the sheer extent of my oppression and aggression.” When he resolved to travel, he first consulted the horoscope (4), then set out in a splendid procession preceded by guards brandishing swords, lances, and maces.

Ibn al-Najjār recounts: He entered a narrow pass; the entire retinue had gone on ahead, leaving him alone. A Bāṭinī assassin sprang upon him from a ledge and struck at him with a dagger, but the blow landed on the mule. The assailant fled, and every one of the attendants pursued him; then he leapt—