In this same year the Chief Judge of Baghdad, Abū Muḥammad ibn Maʿrūf, took his seat in the residence of ʿIzz al-Dawla at the latter’s command in order to adjudicate lawsuits, and he gave judgment among the people in his presence.

That year as well, the commander of the Egyptian forces acting on behalf of al-ʿAzīz ibn al-Muʿizz the Fāṭimid led the pilgrimage after the people of Mecca had been besieged, had suffered severe hardship, and prices there had risen exorbitantly.

Ibn al-Athīr relates that in this year Yūsuf Buluggīn, the deputy of al-Muʿizz the Fāṭimid over the lands of Ifrīqiya (1), marched to Ceuta. From a mountain overlooking the city he spent half a day examining from which side he might besiege it, and its inhabitants were overwhelmed with fear of him. He then withdrew to a nearby town called Basra of the West, ordered it to be demolished and plundered, and afterward advanced to the town of Barghawāṭa. There ruled a man named ʿĪsā ibn Umm al-Anṣār; the ordeal brought upon the people by his sorcery and conjuring tricks had grown intense, and he had claimed to be a prophet, whereupon they obeyed him and followed a law he had laid down for them. Buluggīn fought them, routed them, killed that wicked impostor, seized their property, and carried off their children as captives. According to the people of those regions at that time, no captives of fairer appearance had ever been seen (2).

Among the notable deaths of the year were:

• Aḥmad ibn Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad ibn Salm (3), Abū Bakr al-Khuttulī. He possessed a large Musnad (4). He transmitted ḥadīth from ʿAbdullāh ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal (5), Abū Muslim al-Kukhī (6), and many others, and al-Dāraqutnī and others narrated from him (7). He was reliable (8) and had reached nearly ninety years of age.

• Thābit ibn Sinān ibn Thābit ibn Qurrah, the Ṣābian historian, as mentioned by Ibn al-Athīr in al-Kāmil (9).

• al-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad (10), Abū ʿAlī al-Māsarjīsī, the ḥāfiẓ.