Al-Muʿammar ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Muʿammar ibn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad (1), known as Abū al-Ghanāʾim al-Ḥusaynī, was the naqīb (chief) of the Talibids.
He studied hadith, was handsome in appearance, generous in character, and devoted to worship. No one ever knew him to harm a Muslim or to revile anyone. He passed away a little over sixty years old, having served as naqīb for thirty-two of those years. He ranked among the leading men of Quraysh. After him, the office went to his son Abū al-Futūḥ Ḥaydara, who was surnamed al-Raḍī Dhū al-Fakhrayn. Poets composed elegies for him, some of which Ibn al-Jawzī has recorded (2).
Yaḥyā ibn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Sībī (3) likewise heard hadith; students travelled to him, and he was trustworthy, righteous, [truthful and refined]. He lived one hundred and twelve and a half years, yet his senses remained unimpaired, and the Quran and hadith were read to him. May Allah Most High have mercy on him.
Then the year 491 AH began.
In Jumada al-Ula of that year the Franks captured the city of Antioch after a severe siege, colluding with some of the guards stationed on certain towers. Its ruler Yāghī Siyān (4) fled with a small company, leaving behind his family and wealth. On the road he was overwhelmed by remorse for what he had done, fainted, and fell from his horse. His companions left him and departed. A shepherd came, severed his head, and took it to the Frankish king.
When the news reached the amir Karbūqā, lord of Mosul, he gathered a large force. Duqāq ibn Tutush, lord of Damascus, Janāḥ al-Dawlah, lord of Homs, and others joined him. They marched against the Franks and met them in the region of Antioch, but the Franks routed them, killing many and seizing much of their property—innā li-llāhi wa-innā ilayhi rājiʿūn (surely to Allah we belong, and to Him we return).
The Franks then advanced to Maʿarrat al-Nuʿmān, besieged it, and likewise captured it—lā ḥawla wa-lā quwwata illā bi-llāh (there is no might nor power except through Allah).
When this dreadful affair reached Sultan Barkiyaruq, it distressed him greatly, and he wrote to the amirs in Baghdad, ordering them to prepare, together with the vizier Ibn Jahīr, to fight the Franks,