[The Death of Muʿizz al-Dawla]

(1)
On the thirteenth of Rabiʿ al-Awwal
(2)
of this very year, Muʿizz al-Dawla Abū al-Ḥusayn Aḥmad ibn Būyah the Daylamite died of the illness called dharab, so that nothing at all would stay in his stomach. When he sensed death drawing near, he openly repented and turned back to Allah—exalted is He—restored many wrongfully seized properties, gave away large sums in charity, and manumitted a great number of his slaves. He designated his son Bakhtiyār ʿIzz al-Dawla ibn Muʿizz al-Dawla as his successor. He had also met with certain scholars; one of them spoke to him about the Sunnah and told him that ʿAlī had married his daughter Umm Kulthūm to ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb.
He replied, “By Allah, I have never heard that before,” and he returned to the Sunnah and its observance.

When the time for prayer arrived, that scholar went out to perform it. Muʿizz al-Dawla said to him, “Will you not pray here?”
He answered, “No.”
He asked, “Why not?”
He replied, “Because your house is usurped property.” Muʿizz approved of his stance.

Muʿizz al-Dawla was tolerant, generous, and intelligent, though one of his hands had been cut off. He was the first to institute mounted couriers (suʿāt) before kings so he could dispatch news swiftly to his brother Rukn al-Dawla in Shiraz; people engaged in this craft enjoyed special favor with him. The inhabitants of Baghdad learned the practice until some couriers could cover more than forty parasangs in a single day. Two expert couriers served the city—Faḍl and Marʿūsh—the common Sunni populace backing the former and the common Shiʿa supporting the latter, and many rivalries and confrontations arose between them.

When Muʿizz al-Dawla died and was buried at Bāb al-Tibn in the Quraysh cemetery, his son sat to receive condolences. Rain fell upon the people for three consecutive days. During those days ʿIzz al-Dawla sent generous sums of money to the leading figures of the state, lest the emirs unite against him before their pledge of allegiance was firmly secured—an act that showed his prudence and cunning.

(3)
He was fifty-three years old, and his reign lasted twenty-one years, eleven months, and two days. During his rule he had decreed that inheritances be returned to the deceased’s relatives before anything was taken into the public treasury (Bayt al-Māl).

On the night Muʿizz al-Dawla Abū al-Ḥusayn Aḥmad ibn Būyah died, some people heard a voice reciting:

When, O Abū al-Ḥusayn, you had attained
The wish your very soul pursued,
And felt secure from the trials of night,
And hid yourself from sudden doom