Also in this year: Khātūn, the daughter of the sultan and wife of the caliph, sent a message to her father complaining that the caliph was neglecting her. Her father therefore dispatched the chamberlain Sawab and the amir Marān to bring her back to him. The caliph agreed, sending with her the naqīb and a group of leading amirs; the caliph’s son Abū al-Faḍl and the vizier accompanied her as far as Nahrawān. This took place in Rabīʿ al-Awwal. When she reached her father she died in Shawwāl of the same year at Isfahan. Her funeral was observed in Baghdad for seven days, and the caliph sent two amirs to the sultan to offer condolences for her (1).

The pilgrimage that year was led by Khumartakin.

Among the notable figures who died this year:

ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī, known as Ẓāhir, the ḥāfiẓ of Nīshābūr (2). He travelled widely, heard a vast number of hadiths, produced compilations, and was overtaken by death this year in Hamadhān while still a young man—may Allah have mercy on him.

ʿAlī ibn Abī Yaʿlā ibn Zayd (3), Abū al-Qāsim al-Dabūsī, who succeeded al-Mutawallī as professor at the Niẓāmiyya. He had studied some hadith, and was a masterful jurist and a brilliant dialectician.

ʿĀṣim ibn al-Ḥasan (4) ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿĀṣim ibn Mihrān (5), Abū al-Ḥusayn al-ʿĀṣimī. A native of al-Karkh who lived at Bāb al-Shaʿīr, he was born in 397 AH. He was a man of learning and literature, heard hadiths from al-Khaṭīb and others, and was a trustworthy ḥāfiẓ.

Among his fine poetry are these lines:

My grieving heart for comrades at Kazimah—
I bade them farewell while the caravan set out.
Since they departed, tears have left my eyes
No moment to gaze nor to close in rest.
They journeyed on; my tears stream down like rain (6),
Overflowing, while my heart is packed with pain.
If they have found another in my stead,
For me there is no substitute for them.