Al-Mustazhir bi-Amr Allah was noble in character, a memorizer of the Noble Qur’an, eloquent, articulate, and a gifted poet—[well-versed in logic]—and among the refined verses he composed are the following:
“The burning heat of longing melted in my heart whatever had once congealed
on the day I stretched my hand toward the relics of farewell. (1)
So how can I follow the road of patience when I behold
the paths of the passion-stricken torn to ribbons? (2)
A full moon whose beauty enthralled me has broken the promise
after an age in which he ever kept his word. (3)
If I should shatter the covenant of love lodged in my soul after this,
may I never set eyes on him again.”

Al-Mustazhir delegated the affairs of the caliphate to the vizier Abū Manṣūr ʿAmīd al-Dawla ibn Jahīr, who managed them with the finest administration, prepared matters for him in the best possible way, [governed the subjects, and was among the most excellent of viziers. On the thirteenth] (4) of Shaʿbān the caliph dismissed Abū Bakr al-Shāshī (5) from the office of chief judge and appointed Abū al-Ḥasan ibn al-Dāmghānī in his stead.

In that same year a riot erupted between the Sunnis and the Rāfiḍīs; many quarters were burned, numerous people were killed, and no one performed the ḥajj that year because of the discord among the sultans.

The khuṭbah was delivered in the name of the sultan Barkiyāruq [Rukn al-Dawla on Friday, the fourteenth of Muḥarram—the very day on which the caliph al-Muqtadī died after placing his initial on his decree] (6).

[Among the notable deaths of the year was] Āqsunqur the Atabeg, entitled Qasīm al-Dawla al-Saljūqī, (7) known as al-Ḥājib, ruler of Aleppo, Diyār Bakr, and the Jazīrah. He was the grandfather of King Nūr al-Dīn, the martyr Maḥmūd ibn Zankī ibn Āqsunqur.