appoint him as his heir. When ʿAḍud al-Dawlah arrived, ʿImād al-Dawlah rejoiced immensely and personally marched out with the whole army to receive him. Once they entered the royal residence, he seated him upon the throne and stood before him like any other commander, thereby exalting his status in the sight of the emirs, viziers, and attendants. He then concluded the oath of allegiance in his favor, granting him authority over all lands and treasures and the management of the realm and its forces. Sensing that some of the leading commanders resented this, he began arresting them, executing whomever he wished and imprisoning others, until affairs were firmly settled for ʿAḍud al-Dawlah.

That same year ʿImād al-Dawlah died in Shiraz at the age of fifty-seven. His reign had lasted sixteen years. He ranked among the finest kings of his age, outstripping his peers; in truth he was the “Commander of Commanders,” and that is how the caliphs addressed him in their correspondence. Yet his brother Muʿizz al-Dawlah served as his deputy in Baghdad, Iraq, and the Sawad.

When ʿImād al-Dawlah died, the vizier Abū Jaʿfar al-Ṣaymarī was diverted from the campaign against ʿImrān ibn Shāhīn. Muʿizz al-Dawlah wrote to him, ordering him to proceed to Shiraz and take charge of its affairs. Thus ʿImrān’s position, previously weakened, grew strong again; the details of his case will be mentioned in due course.

Among the notable figures who died this year were:

Abū Jaʿfar al-Naḥḥās the grammarian (1)

Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl ibn Yūnus, Abū Jaʿfar al-Murādī al-Miṣrī, widely known as al-Naḥḥās—the linguist, Qurʾanic exegete, and man of letters—authored numerous works on exegesis and other subjects. He transmitted hadith and met with the disciples of al-Mubarrad. His death occurred in Dhū al-Ḥijjah of this year.

Ibn Khallikān said: Five days had passed of the month, on a Saturday (2).

The cause of his death was that he was sitting beside the Nilometer (3) analyzing some lines of ʿarūḍ (Arabic prosody). One of the common people imagined that he was casting a spell on the Nile to keep it from reaching its flood, so he kicked him, causing him to fall into the river and drown; no trace of him was ever found—may Allah have mercy on him.

He had studied grammar under ʿAlī ibn Sulaymān al-Akhfash, Abū Bakr ibn al-Anbārī, Abū Isḥāq al-Zajjāj, Nifṭawayh, and others, and he produced many valuable works, among them: a Tafsīr of the Quran and al-Nāsikh