and may He show him every good in his children (1),
so that the kingdom may be governed among them in shining splendour (2).

He (3) then said: It is related that from the very moment he uttered the words, “vanquisher of Fate,” he never succeeded thereafter (4).

Another narrator adds that these verses were the last to be recited in his presence, and his death followed immediately. He died in Shawwal of that same year, at the age of forty-seven or forty-eight. His body was carried to the shrine of ʿAlī and laid to rest there—he had leanings toward Shiʿism (5).

On the tomb raised for him beside the shrine of ʿAlī was written:
“This is the grave of ʿAḍud al-Dawlah, the Crown of the Faith (6), Abū Shujāʿ ibn Rukn al-Dawlah. He loved to neighbour this God-fearing imam, hoping for deliverance on the Day when every soul will come pleading for itself ⦗Surah al-Naḥl 16:111⦘. Praise belongs to Allah, and blessings be upon Muḥammad and his pure family.”

At the hour of death he recited these verses, composed by al-Qāsim ibn ʿUbayd Allah (7):

I felled the stalwart chiefs of men, leaving no foe behind,
Nor did I grant a single soul reprieve when I but doubted it inclined.

I emptied the royal dwelling of every settled guest;
I scattered them westward, I scattered them eastward, never allowing them rest.

When I had climbed to the star (8) in might and lofty fame,
And every neck of humankind was bowed to me in servile claim,

Ruin shot its arrow, dousing my flame (9);
Here I am, swiftly (10) hurled into my grave, bereft of name.

Through folly I squandered both my worldly life and faith;
Whose downfall is, compared to mine, in deeper wretchedness and wraith?

He then went on repeating the verse, “My wealth has not availed me; my power has vanished from me” ⦗Surah al-Ḥāqqah 69:28-29⦘ until he died, just as