Also in this year: Sultan Malikshah captured the city of Samarqand. The amir Khumartakin led the pilgrimage, and among those who performed the ḥajj were the vizier Abū Shujāʿ—who deputized his son Abū Manṣūr—and Ṭirād ibn Muḥammad [al-Zaynabī].
Among the notable figures who died this year:
Aḥmad, son of Sultan Malikshah (1). He had been his father’s designated heir, but died at the age of eleven. The people observed mourning for seven days: no one so much as mounted a horse, the women wailed for him in the markets, and the inhabitants of the provinces under his father’s rule blackened their doors.
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Jaʿfar (2), [Abū Ismāʿīl] al-Anṣārī al-Harawī. A transmitter and compiler of ḥadith, he was known for spending much of the night in worship. He died in Herat in Dhū l-Ḥijjah at the age of eighty-six.
Then the year 482 AH began.
In Muḥarram, Abū Bakr al-Shāshī began teaching in the Tājiyya Madrasa at Bāb Abrazz; it had been founded by the dignitary Tāj al-Mulk (3) Abū l-Ghanāʾim for adherents of the Shāfiʿī school.
That same year a grave turmoil broke out between the Rāfiḍites and the Sunnis. Copies of the Qur’an were hoisted aloft, protracted fighting ensued, and numerous lives were lost. Ibn al-Jawzī records in al-Muntaẓam (4), citing the autograph of Ibn ʿAqīl, that nearly two hundred men were killed. He writes: “The people of al-Kark cursed the Companions and the wives of the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—and went so far as to curse the Messenger himself. May Allah’s curse be upon the people of al-Kark who did this.” I have reported this so that the reader may know the malice, hatred for Islam and its people, and entrenched enmity toward Allah, His Messenger, and His law that lie hidden in the hearts of the Rāfiḍites.
Also in this year: Sultan Malikshah subdued Transoxiana and a large portion of the surrounding region after fierce wars and massive engagements.
The Egyptian army likewise seized several districts in greater Syria.
And in this same year the minaret of the Great Mosque of Aleppo was erected.