Born in 401 AH, he studied jurisprudence under Qāḍī Abū al-Ṭayyib al-Ṭabarī. He also heard ḥadith from him and from many other shaykhs in various lands, after which he settled in Nīshāpūr. He had committed to memory a vast store of disputed legal questions—about four thousand in all—together with their evidences and the arguments used in debate, in addition to countless anecdotes, witticisms, and points of etiquette. He was patient and austere in worldly matters, following the way of the early generations.
A royal decree appointing him as judge of Hamadhān once reached him, whereupon he said: “I am awaiting a decree from Allah—Exalted is He—delivered by the Angel of Death summoning me to appear before Him. By Allah, an hour’s sitting in this mosque with a heart at ease is dearer to me than the sovereignty of the two Iraqs, and teaching a single legal issue to a seeker is dearer to me than dominion over both mankind and jinn.” (1) Ibn al-Jawzī relates this in al-Muntaẓam (2). He died in Dhū al-Qaʿdah of the present year at the age of ninety-three.
Abū al-Qāsim, the son of Imām al-Ḥaramayn, (3) was killed in Nīshāpūr by members of the Bāṭiniyyah. May Allah have mercy on him and, by His grace and generosity, on his father as well.
Then came the year 493 AH. In Ṣafar of that year Sultan Barkiyārūq entered Baghdad and lodged in the Dār al-Mulk. The Friday sermon in Baghdad was again pronounced in his name, while that of his brother Muḥammad ibn Malik-Shāh was discontinued. The caliph sent him an imposing gift, and the common folk and the women rejoiced at his arrival. Yet he was hard-pressed because of his brother Muḥammad: the machinery of state was turning toward Muḥammad, men were flocking to him, Barkiyārūq had little money, and the troops were clamouring for their stipends. He therefore resolved to confiscate the property of the vizier Ibn Jahīr, but the vizier sought refuge with the caliph, who forbade Barkiyārūq from doing so. At length they agreed upon a settlement (4), and Barkiyārūq took from Ibn Jahīr 160,000 dinars.
Later he and his brother Sultan Muḥammad met near Hamadhān, where Muḥammad routed him; Barkiyārūq escaped with only fifty horsemen. In that engagement Saʿd al-Dawlah Kuharāʾīn the chamberlain was killed. He had long served the Seljuq state, had once been Shihnah of Baghdad, was forbearing and of excellent conduct, and never deliberately committed an injustice. No chamberlain had ever enjoyed the dignity, honour, and multitude of attendants that he enjoyed. (5) He prayed abundantly at night, never sat down without being in a state of ablution, was never ill throughout his life, and never suffered so much as a headache.
When that battle occurred, Sultan Barkiyārūq’s position weakened; nonetheless his army returned to him, and the amir Dādh-Habshī (6) joined him with twenty thousand men. He then clashed with his brother Sanjar, whereupon Sanjar also defeated him, and he fled in