his hand—though his tongue had already been rendered mute—(1) and began to run his own fingers through his beard; then he passed away, may Allah have mercy on him.
The judge Ibn Khallikān mentions him in his “Obituaries” and relates that he once entered upon al-Junayd, stood before him, clapped his hands, and recited:
They taught me union—how sweet is union!—
then blamed me with distance, and distance is hard.
They alleged, when they resolved to depart, that my fault
was my boundless love for them, but that is no fault.
No, by the right of humble meeting,
the only recompense for one who loves is to be loved. (2)
He also reported that al-Shiblī said:
“I saw a madman at the gate of the Rusāfah Mosque on a Friday, stark naked, crying, ‘I am Allah’s madman! I am Allah’s madman!’ I said to him, ‘Will you not cover yourself and go inside to pray with the people?’ He thereupon recited:
They say, ‘Come visit us; discharge the duty you owe,’
but my very state has released me from their claims.
If they behold my condition and are not ashamed of it,
while I am not ashamed of it, then I shall be ashamed for them. (3)
Al-Khaṭīb records in his “History” that he himself recited:
Youth is gone, and the beloved with it; now in my eyes
two tears rise, jostling for release.
Fate has shown me no fairness: it struck me
with two farewells, yet I possess not two hearts. (4)
He died—may Allah have mercy on him—on the night of Friday, two nights before the close of that year, at the age of eighty-seven, and was buried in the Khayzurān Cemetery, may Allah have mercy on him.
Then came the year 335 AH.
In this year the position of the caliph al-Muṭīʿ li-llāh was firmly established in the Palace of the Caliphate. Muʿizz al-Dawla ibn Būyah and Nāṣir al-Dawla ibn Ḥamdān reached an accord to that effect, after which Nāṣir al-Dawla fought Takin the Turk. They met in battle several times until Nāṣir al-Dawla defeated Takin, blinded him in his presence, and consolidated his control over Mosul and al-Jazīrah.
During the same year Rukn al-Dawla ibn Būyah seized Rey, wresting it from the Khurāsānīs, and the dominions of the Buyids grew accordingly.