It is also reported that he omitted al-Ḥāfiẓ’s name from the Friday sermon, delivering the sermon in his own name, and that he excised from the adhan the phrase ḥayya ʿalā khayri l-ʿamal (Come to the best of deeds). The populace—most of whom were Shiʿa—took offence, and he was killed while playing polo in 526 AH (1). The oath of allegiance was thereupon renewed to al-Ḥāfiẓ. The vizier Yanis died three years later, and the crown prince, Ḥasan ibn al-Ḥāfiẓ, assumed the vizierate.
295 – al-Bursuqī, Qasīm al-Dawla, Abū Saʿīd Āq-Sunqur *
al-Malik Qasīm al-Dawla Abū Saʿīd Āq-Sunqur, a mamluk of Bursuq and formerly a page in the service of Sultan Ṭughril Beg.
He governed Mosul and al-Raḥba, and he had earlier held the shihnākiyya (3) of Baghdad; and Balak (4)
(1) He was put to death at his father’s instigation: a servant was ordered to administer poison, and he died in 529/1135. Ibn al-Athir, al-Kamil, 11:23-24, remarks that Hasan was “of deplorable conduct, an unjust man who freely shed blood and seized people’s wealth.” The poets lampooned him; al-Muʿtamad ibn al-Ansari, the celebrated stylist, wrote:
O Hasan, no beauty did you bring to humankind,
nor did you ever acknowledge truth in worldly life or religion.
You slaughter souls without guilt or cause,
and unjustly seize the goods of the poor.
Lacking both learning and manners, you unite
the haughtiness of kings with the morals of madmen.
(2) See al-Kamil fi al-Tarikh, 10:673.
(*) Further sources: al-Muntazam, 9:254; al-Kamil fi al-Tarikh, 10:633-635; Wafayat al-Ayan, 1:242-243; Muʿjam al-Alqab, 4/3:588; Tarikh al-Islam, 4:240/2; al-Ibar, 4:46; Takmilat al-Mukhtasar, 2:53; Uyoon al-Tawarikh, 13:449; al-Bidaya wa-l-Nihaya, 12:195; al-Nujum al-Zahira, 5:230; Shadharat al-Dhahab, 4:61; Muʿjam al-Ansab wa-l-Usar al-Hakima, 6, 46, 337.
(3) The term shihna refers to the military governor’s aides who supervise the city’s administration and safeguard the populace.
(4) Balak ibn Bahran ibn Artuq, ruler of Aleppo, was killed in 518/1124; see al-Kamil fi al-Tarikh, 10:619.