Sibṭ al-Jawzī (1) relates that toward the end of his life al-Nāṣir’s eyesight failed—some maintain that he went totally blind. His servant Rashīq seized the reins of the caliphate and continued to sign documents in the caliph’s name. Al-Nāṣir was afflicted with a host of ailments, among them urinary retention and bladder stones; his penis was incised several times, and in the end the procedure cost him his life.

He further states: my uncle, Muḥyī al-Dīn, performed the ritual washing of the body.

Al-Muwaffaq ʿAbd al-Laṭīf remarks: The illness that proved fatal manifested itself in confusion and forgetfulness; it lasted six months, and none of the populace knew its true nature—so much so that even the vizier and the members of the household were unaware. The caliph owned a slave-girl whom he had personally taught calligraphy, so that her hand was identical to his. Acting on the advice of the qahramāna (female steward), she wrote the state decrees in his stead.

During this same period Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad b. Takish Khwārazmshāh descended upon the outskirts of Baghdad, a fugitive stripped of men, money, and mounts. Whatever came within his reach he ruined. Because al-Nāṣir’s counsel was unavailable, the authorities sought to placate him and refrained from decisive action. He then plundered Daqūqā and moved on to Azerbaijan.

Al-ʿAdl Shams al-Dīn al-Jazarī records in his History (2), citing his father:

“I heard the vizier al-Muʾayyad ibn al-ʿAlqamī, when he was in charge of the Ustādh-dāriyya, say: ‘The water the Imām al-Nāṣir drank was brought by pack-animals from 7 parasangs upstream of Baghdad, then boiled 7 times and stored in vessels for a week before he would drink it. He did not pass away until he had been given the murqad—a sleeping draught—three times; his penis was incised, and stones were extracted from him.’”

Ibn al-Athīr (3) adds that al-Nāṣir remained immobilised for 3 years.