from the side of the ruler of Egypt. When Tutush reached Damascus to support him and Atsiz came out to meet him, Tutush ordered that he be seized and executed. He then took control of Damascus and its dependencies in 471 AH. Afterward he and his brother Barkiyāruq fought in the region of Rayy; his brother defeated him, and Tutush himself was killed on the battlefield. His son Riḍwān took possession of Aleppo—the Banū Riḍwān there are named after him—and he ruled it until 507 AH,1 when his mother poisoned him with a cluster of grapes. Authority then passed to his father’s mamluk, who had become her husband, and he governed until 522 AH. After him Riḍwān’s son Tāj al-Mulūk Būrī reigned for four years; then another son, Shams al-Mulūk Ismāʿīl, ruled for three years, and he too was killed by his mother, Zumurrud Khātūn bint Jawalī.2 She next placed his brother Shihāb al-Dīn Maḥmūd ibn Būrī on the throne, and he ruled for four years, after which another brother, Muḥammad ibn Būrī ibn Ṭughtikīn,3 held power for one year. Mujīr al-Dīn,4 the son of Abaq,5 then ruled from 534 AH until Nūr al-Dīn Maḥmūd ibn Zangī wrested the city from him—as will be related later. The atabeg of the army in Damascus during the days of Abaq6 was Muʿīn al-Dīn,7 to whom the Maʿīniyyah quarter in al-Ghur and the Maʿīniyyah Madrasa in Damascus are attributed.
Rizqullah ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz,8 Abū Muḥammad al-Tamīmī, was among the foremost masters of Qur’an recitation and jurisprudence, following the school of Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal and the leading authorities of hadith. He held a seat for preaching and a circle for issuing legal opinions in the Manṣūr Mosque and later in the Qaṣr Mosque. Handsome in appearance and beloved by the common people, he composed graceful poetry,9 was devoted to abundant worship, eloquent in expression, and accomplished in debate. From his forefathers he transmitted a musalsal hadith that goes back to ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib—may Allah honor his countenance—in which he said: “Knowledge calls out to action; if action responds, knowledge remains, but if not, it departs.” He enjoyed high standing with the caliph, who sent him on important embassies to the sultan. He died on a Tuesday.