and a large section of Karkh was set ablaze; the governor then avenged the people of Karkh upon the inhabitants of Bab al-Basrah and the other factions, seizing a great deal of their property by way of retribution for what they had done.
In the same year the Abbasid daʿwah was proclaimed in Jerusalem.
That year as well, the ruler of Samarqand, Muḥammad Altikin, captured the city of Tirmidh.
During the same year, Abū l-Ghanāʾim al-ʿAlawī led the pilgrimage—Allah knows best.
Among the notable figures who died this year was the Sultan Alp Arslan (1), surnamed “Sultan of the World,” son of Chaghri Beg (2) Dāwūd ibn Mīkāʾīl ibn Saljūq ibn Tuqāq (3) the Turk, lord of vast dominions.
He succeeded his uncle Ṭughril Beg and reigned for seven years, six months, and a few days. He was a just ruler who treated the people with fairness—generous, merciful, solicitous toward his subjects, gentle with the poor, dutiful to his family, companions, and mamlūks. He frequently implored Allah that the favors granted to him might endure, and he was abundant in charity, distributing fifteen thousand dinars every Ramadan. Throughout his reign no wrongful seizure or forced levy was known; out of consideration for his subjects he was content to collect the land tax in two instalments.
On one occasion some informers wrote to him denouncing his vizier Niẓām al-Mulk, listing the latter’s holdings within the sultan’s realms. Alp Arslan summoned him and said, “If this is true, refine your conduct and amend your affairs; if it is not, then pardon their lapse by engaging them in something that will divert them from maligning others.”
He was extremely vigilant in safeguarding the property of his subjects. When he learned that one of his pages had taken a merchant’s loin-cloth, he had the culprit crucified, and the rest of the mamlūks were cowed by the severity of his punishment.
He left the following children: Malikshah, who assumed power after him; Iyāz; Takish (4); Buri Bars; Arslan; Arghu; Sarah; ʿĀʾishah; and another daughter. He died this year at the age of forty-one and was buried beside his father in Rayy. May Allah have mercy on him.