—particularly in historical narratives and the annals of the caliphs; he authored a number of works on the subject. He transmitted reports from ʿUmar ibn Shabbah and others, and he died in Rabīʿ al-Awwal of this year, at the age of fifty-three.
[Then entered the year 297 AH]
Events of the year:
• al-Qāsim ibn Sīma led the summer expedition, and Muʾnis al-Khādim ransomed the Muslim captives who were in Byzantine hands.
Ibn al-Jawzī (1) relates from Thābit ibn Sinān that, during the days of al-Muqtadir in Baghdad, he saw a woman who possessed neither forearms nor upper arms; her two hands were mere stumps fastened to her shoulders, useless for any task. Nevertheless, she performed with her feet what women customarily do with their hands—spinning yarn, combing hair, and so forth. (2)
In this same year the rains were late in Baghdad and prices soared. Word also arrived that Makka—may Allah exalt it—had been struck by a tremendous flood: the very corners of the House were submerged, Zamzam overflowed, and nothing like it had ever been witnessed before this year.
The pilgrimage that year was led by al-Faḍl ibn ʿAbd al-Malik al-Hāshimī.
[Among the notable deaths of the year]
Muḥammad ibn Dāwūd ibn ʿAlī (3), Abū Bakr the jurist, son of the Ẓāhirī jurist and grandson of the Ẓāhirī, was a distinguished scholar—learned, refined, poet, and accomplished jurist. He is the author of the book al-Zahra.
He studied under his father, followed him in his school of law, and adhered to the method and choices his father approved. His father cherished him, drawing him close and honoring him.
Ruwaym ibn Muḥammad (4) said: “We were one day in the company of Dāwūd when his son Muḥammad entered, weeping.
‘What troubles you?’ his father asked.
He replied, ‘The boys are calling me ʿUṣfūr al-Shawk (the bramble sparrow).’
His father laughed, whereupon the boy’s anger flared and he said, ‘You are more harmful to me than they are!’
So his father embraced him, saying, ‘There is no god but Allah! Nicknames come only from heaven. My son, you are nothing but the bramble sparrow.’”
When his father died, this Muḥammad took his place in the teaching circle, but the people deemed him too young for the post. One day a questioner asked him