who then wrote to Kāfūr al-Ikhshīdī, imploring him for assistance. Kāfūr marched toward them with massive forces, drove Sayf al-Dawlah from Damascus, expelled him from Aleppo as well, and installed a deputy there. He then wheeled back and appointed Badr al-Ikhshīdī—known as Budayr—as governor of Damascus. Once Kāfūr had reached the Egyptian territories, Sayf al-Dawlah returned to Aleppo, seized it again as at first, and was left with nothing in Damascus. Kāfūr (1) is the same man whom al-Mutanabbī both lampooned and praised.
[Among the notable deaths that year]
al-Khirqī (2): author of the famous Mukhtaṣar on jurisprudence.
ʿUmar ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh, Abū al-Qāsim al-Khirqī, was the author of the concise manual of law based on the school of Imām Aḥmad. The work was later commented upon by Qāḍī Abū Yaʿlā ibn al-Farrāʾ and by Shaykh Muwaffaq al-Dīn Ibn Qudāmah al-Maqdisī (3).
Al-Khirqī was among the leading jurists and devout worshippers, renowned for his many virtues and acts of devotion. He left Baghdad when open reviling of the Companions (4) became widespread there. Before departing he deposited his books in the city, but the house that held them burned down and his works were lost. He then made for Damascus, remained there until his death in this very year, and was buried at Bāb al-Ṣaghīr, a grave that is visited, not far from the tombs of the martyrs.
In his Mukhtaṣar, in the Book of Pilgrimage, he writes: “He proceeds to the Black Stone and kisses it if it is there.” He phrased it thus because he composed the book at a time when the Black Stone was in the hands of the Qarmaṭians, who had removed it from its place in 317 AH, as we have mentioned (6); it was not returned until 339 AH, as will be explained in its proper place (7).
Al-Khaṭīb said: Qāḍī Abū Yaʿlā told me, “He possessed many writings and derivations within the school that never became known, for he left Baghdad when the cursing of the Companions appeared, entrusted his books there, and the house burned down along with the manuscripts before they had spread, owing to his distance from the city” (8).
Al-Khaṭīb then transmitted through his chain (9) from Abū al-Faḍl ʿAbd al-Samīʿ al-Hāshimī, from al-Fatḥ ibn Shukhraf, who said: