the hand of death stretched out toward you,
and you were seized from your house of gold.

When Muʿizz al-Dawla died, authority passed to his son ʿIzz al-Dawla. He devoted himself to diversion and amusement, preoccupying himself with women; his forces scattered, unity collapsed, and the Samanid amir Manṣūr ibn Nūḥ, ruler of Khurasan, coveted the Būyid realm. He dispatched great armies together with the king Washmīkīr. When Rukn al-Dawla ibn Būyah learned of this, he appealed to his son ʿAḍud al-Dawla and to his nephew ʿIzz al-Dawla for aid, and they sent (1) him numerous troops. Rukn al-Dawla rode out at their head, while Washmīkīr sent him messages of threat and intimidation, saying:

“If I gain power over you, I will do such-and-such to you—indeed, I will!”

Rukn al-Dawla replied:

“But if I gain power over you, I shall treat you well and pardon you.”

The outcome favored the latter, and Allah warded off his enemy’s harm. Washmīkīr had mounted a vicious horse and gone hunting; a boar charged him, the horse bolted, threw him to the ground, blood flowed from his ears, and he died on the spot. His armies dispersed. Washmīkīr’s son then sought safe-conduct from Rukn al-Dawla, who granted it, sent him money and men, and kept his word. Thus Allah turned back the Samanid plot, thanks to Rukn al-Dawla’s sincerity of intention and purity of heart.

[Among the notable people who died in this year]

Abū al-Faraj (2) [al-Isbahāni, author of al-Aghānī] (3), ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn al-Haytham ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Marwān ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Marwān ibn Muḥammad ibn Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam, an Umayyad from Isfahan, compiler of the Book of Songs (al-Aghānī) and the Book of the Days of the Arabs, in which he chronicled one thousand seven hundred of their battles and engagements.

He was a poet, man of letters, and accomplished writer, well versed in historical reports and the chronicles of peoples, though he inclined toward Shīʿism.

Ibn al-Jawzī said: “A man such as this cannot be trusted, for he states in his books what entails flagrant immorality, trivializes the drinking of wine, and sometimes relates such conduct of himself. Whoever examines al-Aghānī will encounter every sort of reprehensible and shameful matter.” (4)

He transmitted hadith from Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh Muṭayyin and many others; al-Dāraqutnī and others narrated from him. He died in Dhū al-Ḥijjah of this year.