at times earned his living as a money-changer, even though he was of the line of King Constantine, founder of their city.

In the same year, earthquakes multiplied in Egypt and greater Syria, destroyed a vast amount of property, and crushed multitudes beneath the debris. One-third of Ramla collapsed; its congregational mosque split apart, and the inhabitants fled in panic, remaining outside the town for eight days before calm returned and they went back. The wall of Bayt al-Maqdis fell; a large section broke away from the Mihrab of David and another from the Mosque of Abraham, while the Blessed Chamber was spared. The minaret of Ascalon toppled, the summit of the minaret of Gaza fell, and half the buildings of Nablus were ruined. A village opposite Nablus was swallowed up—together with its people, cattle, and sheep—and sank into the earth, as did many other nearby villages, according to Ibn al-Jawzi (1).

Severe high prices struck the lands of Ifriqiyyah.

A black wind swept Nisibis, wrecking countless trees, including mulberry, walnut, and jujube. It uprooted a palace of stone, brick, and plaster, hurling it and its occupants to their deaths. Soon after, rain fell mixed with hailstones the size of palms, forearms, and fingers. The sea on that coast receded three parasangs; people followed the exposed fish, but the water surged back over them and many drowned.

That year deaths from al-khawāniq (a suffocating epidemic illness) became frequent. Whole households perished behind closed doors. Baghdad suffered most, losing ninety thousand souls in the month of Dhu al-Ḥijjah alone.

During the same year strife erupted between the Sunnis and the Rāfiḍīs, even among the ayyārūn gangs of both sides. The two al-Isfahani brothers, leaders of the Sunni ayyārūn, blocked the people of Karkh from accessing the waters of the Tigris, leaving them in dire straits. Ibn al-Burjumi and his brother were killed during these troubles.

No one from Iraq performed the pilgrimage that year—and Allah, exalted is He, knows best.

Among the notable deaths in that year was Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad (2) ibn Ghālib (3), the ḥadith master Abū Bakr, better known as al-Barqānī.