Ibn al-Jawzī (1) said: Then some of the ministers obliged him to set out for Nīshāpūr, where he taught at its Niẓāmiyyah. Afterwards he returned to his hometown, Ṭūs, settled there, built a ribāṭ, acquired a fine residence, and planted within it an elegant orchard. He devoted himself to reciting the Qur’an and to memorising sound ḥadiths.

He died on Monday, the fourteenth of Jumada al-Ākhirah of this year, and was buried at Ṭūs—may Allah Most High have mercy on him.

One of his companions asked him, while he was in the agony of death (2), “Give me advice!” He replied, “Hold fast to sincerity.” He kept repeating it until he passed away, may Allah have mercy on him.

[Then came the year 506]

• In Jumada al-Ākhirah (3) Ibn al-Ṭabarī was appointed lecturer at the Niẓāmiyyah and al-Shāshī (4) was dismissed from it.

• Also in that year the righteous shaykh, one of the devoted worshippers, Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb (5), entered Baghdad and preached to the people; he was received with complete acceptance (6). He was a Shāfiʿī jurist (7) who had studied under Shaykh Abū Isḥāq al-Shīrāzī (8), after which he devoted himself to worship and asceticism, and he enjoyed commendable spiritual states.

A man (9) named Ibn al-Saqqāʾ once debated him on a legal issue. He said to him, “Be silent, for I sense in your words a whiff of disbelief; you may well die outside the religion of Islam.” Some time later (10) Ibn al-Saqqāʾ travelled to Byzantine territory on an errand and there embraced Christianity (11). To Allah we belong and to Him we return. Allah is sufficient for us and the best disposer of affairs; upon Allah we place our trust.