Rabīʿ al-Awwal of that same year, at the age of fifty-five. May Allah have mercy on him and on us through His grace and bounty.

[Then the year 386 AH began]

In Muḥarram of this year the people of Basra opened an ancient grave and found inside a body still fresh, its sword and clothes intact. Supposing it to be that of al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām, they lifted it out, shrouded it, and re-buried it. They built a mosque beside the tomb, assigned numerous endowments to it, and posted attendants and custodians there, supplying furnishings and lamps.

During this year al-Ḥākim the ʿUbaydī seized the dominion of Egypt after the death of his father al-ʿAzīz ibn al-Muʿizz the Fatimid. He was then eleven years and six months old. Affairs of state were first managed by Arjawān the chamberlain and by Amīn al-Dawla al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAmmār, leader of the Kutāma tribe; when al-Ḥākim gained full control, [he had them both put to death] (1), replaced them with others, and executed many people until authority was firmly in his hand, as we shall relate.

[That same year the Egyptians led the pilgrimage, and the Friday sermon was delivered in their sovereign’s name] (2).

[Among the notable deaths of the year]

Aḥmad ibn Ibrāhīm (3) ibn Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā ibn Sakhtawayh, Abū Ḥāmid ibn Abī Isḥāq al-Muzakkī al-Naysābūrī. He heard ḥadith from al-Aṣamm and his peers. From youth to old age he was devoted to worship and fasted every other day for twenty-nine years. Al-Ḥākim said: “In my judgment the recording angels wrote no sin against him.” He died in Shaʿbān of this year at the age of sixty-three.

Abū Ṭālib al-Makkī (4), author of Qūt al-Qulūb (5): Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿAṭiyya—the preacher who reminded hearts, the ascetic devotee, a righteous man. He heard and transmitted ḥadith from several authorities.