He lived for twenty years, lacking only a few months (1).
- The Lord of Azerbaijan, the Atabeg Shams al-Din Ildukuz
Ruler of Azerbaijan and Hamadan.
Originally one of the mamluks of the vizier al-Sumayrami, he passed—after that vizier was killed—into the service of Sultan Masʿud, who advanced him and then appointed him over the province of Arran. From that base he consolidated his power, rose in stature, and seized the regions of Azerbaijan, Rayy, Hamadan, and Isfahan. The Friday sermon was proclaimed in his name alongside that of his stepson, the sultan Arslan ibn Tughril. Ildukuz’s army numbered fifty thousand men, and he was known for sound governance, decisiveness, horsemanship, and courage.
He died in the year 570 AH. Another report puts his death in 568 AH, by which time he was an old man.
His son, Sultan Shams al-Din Pahlawan (2) ibn Ildukuz, ruler of Azerbaijan and Persian ʿIraq,
succeeded his father. His authority grew mighty and his dominion expanded, until he died in the year—
(1) Al-Ibar says he was nineteen years old, whereas Tarikh al-Islam gives him “almost eighteen.” Al-Ibar also reports: “He bequeathed Aleppo to his cousin ‘Izz al-Din Masud b. Mawdud, who then came and seized it.”
(*) His life is recorded in Ibn al-Jawzi’s al-Muntazam, Sibt Ibn al-Jawzi’s Mir’at al-Zaman, and Ibn al-Athir’s al-Kamil. Al-Dhahabi offers a detailed notice under the deaths of 568 in Tarikh al-Islam, fol. 18 (Istanbul, Ahmed III 2917/14), and likewise in Al-Ibar, 4 / 203. Ibn Khallikan cites him at the close of the biography of ‘Izz al-Din Masud, lord of Mosul, stating that he died at the end of Rabi‘ al-Akhir 570; in that passage the name Ildukuz is misread as “al-Dhikr.” The editor of vol. 4 of Al-Ibar vocalizes the name Ildukuz with a quiescent lam, a fathah on the dal, and a kasrah on the kaf.
(2) His name was Muhammad, as Al-Ibar and other sources record. Al-Dhahabi treats him, together with his father, under the deaths of 581 in Tarikh al-Islam, noting that he died at the very end of that year (fol. 91, Ahmed III 2917/14). Al-Ibar, 4 / 242, says the same. Ibn Khallikan, in Wafayat al-A‘yan, likewise states that he died on the last day of Dhu l-Hijjah 581. He will be mentioned separately later in the present work as well.