Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn ʿAsākir, in his biography of Jaʿfar ibn Falāḥ, the deputy governor of Damascus, writes: “He was the first to wield authority there on behalf of the Fāṭimids, acting under orders from al-Muʿizz the Fāṭimid, ruler of Cairo. Abū Muḥammad ibn al-Akfānī (1) related to us that Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Sharām said:

‘On Thursday, the 5th of Ṣafar in the year 360 AH, the muʾadhdhins in the Great Mosque of Damascus, on all the city’s minarets, and on the minarets of the smaller mosques proclaimed ḥayya ʿalā khayri l-ʿamal (“Come to the best of deeds”) after ḥayya ʿalā l-falāḥ (“Come to success”). Jaʿfar ibn Falāḥ had commanded them to do this; they could not oppose him and had no choice but to hasten to obey.

On Friday, the 8th of Jumādā al-Ākhirah of that same year, the muʾadhdhins were ordered to repeat the adhān and to pronounce each takbīr in the iqāma twice, and to insert ḥayya ʿalā khayri l-ʿamal into the iqāma as well. The people regarded this as a serious innovation, yet they accepted the decree of Allah Most High.’”

Among the notable figures who died in that year:

• al-Sarī ibn Aḥmad ibn al-Sarī (2) — Abū al-Ḥasan al-Kindī, known as al-Raffāʾ, the poet of Mosul. Ibn al-Athīr dated his death to this year, 360 AH, and recorded that he died in Baghdad (3). Ibn al-Jawzī, however, placed his death in 362 AH, as will be mentioned later (4).

• Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar (5) ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Haytham ibn ʿImrān ibn Yazīd, Abū Bakr al-Bundār (6), originally from Anbār. He heard ḥadith from Aḥmad ibn al-Khalīl al-Burjulānī, Muḥammad ibn [Abī] (7) al-ʿAwām al-Riyāḥī, Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad al-Ṣāʾigh, and Abū Ismāʿīl al-Tirmidhī. Ibn al-Jawzī says: “He was the last person to transmit from them.” (8)