[Then the year 503 AH began]

• In it:
  The Franks—may Allah curse them—seized the city of Tripoli (1). They massacred the men, carried off the women and children as captives, and plundered goods and wealth. Ten nights later they captured the city of Jbeil (2). There is no power and no strength except with Allah, the All-Great, the Most High (3).

  Fakhr al-Mulk ibn ʿAmmar (4) fled from them and headed for the ruler of Damascus, Tughtekin, who received him with honor and granted him extensive lands.

• Also in it:
  Some of the Bāṭiniyya (5) attacked the vizier Abū Naṣr Aḥmad (6) ibn Niẓām al-Mulk. They wounded him, but the assailant was captured, given wine to drink, and he confessed against a group of the Bāṭiniyya; they were arrested and executed (7).

• That year the amir Qīmāz led the pilgrimage.

[Among the notable deaths this year]

Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad, Abū Bakr al-ʿUlabi (8)(9).

He earned his living plastering walls; he never painted images and never accepted anything from anyone. Instead, he lived off property he owned, selling parts of it for his subsistence. He heard ḥadith from the qadi Abū Yaʿlā and studied a measure of jurisprudence (10) under him. Whenever he performed ḥajj he would visit the graves in Mecca, and when he reached the grave of Shaykh al-Fuḍayl ibn ʿIyāḍ (11) he would draw a line beside it with his staff and say: