and it was a day that people long remembered. Tāj al-Dīn now cast his eyes on the sultanate, while Shihāb al-Dīn was interred in the burial ground he had prepared for himself in Ghazna. He had been a valiant, courageous, and imposing figure, of excellent conduct, ruling by the Sacred Law.

We have been told that Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī once preached before him and said: “O Sultan of the world, neither your sovereignty will endure, nor the casuistry of al-Rāzī will endure: ‘our return is to Allah, and indeed the transgressors are the people of the Fire’ (Q 40:43).” It is related that the sultan thereupon broke down in tears.

He followed the Shāfiʿī school, as did his brother—though some said he was Ḥanafī.

169 – Ibn al-Qaṣṣāb, Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad al-Baghdādī

The grand vizier, Muʾayyad al-Dīn, Abū al-Faḍl Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad Ibn al-Qaṣṣāb al-Baghdādī,

one of the outstanding men of his age: brave, dignified, resolute, deep-minded, and astute, gifted in both poetry and prose, and masterful in eloquence.

He deputised in the vizierate, served in the Bureau of Correspondence (1), and campaigned with the armies, taking Hamadhān and Isfahān, besieging Rayy, and then returning to assume the vizierate (2). He then marched