I have a fixed term that Allah has decreed—
blessings and provision I nonetheless keep at bay;
until I have taken of it my allotted share,
what has been completed for me I shall not overstep.
“Noble men,” said the company I once frequented,
“in the very gathering (1) where I used to sit,
Ibn Nabhan has now returned to his Lord—
may Allah have mercy on us and on him.”

Amīr al-Ḥajj Yumn ibn ʿAbd Allah, Abū al-Khayr al-Mustazharī (2) was open-handed, generous, and highly praised, a man of sound judgment and penetrating insight (3). He heard hadith from Abū ʿAbd Allah al-Ḥusayn ibn Ṭalḥah al-Naʿālī through the dictation of Abū Naṣr al-Isfahānī, who used to lead him in the prescribed prayers. When he arrived in Isfahan as an envoy he narrated hadith there as well. His death (4) occurred in Rabīʿ al-Ākhir of this very year, and he was buried there—may Allah Most High have mercy upon him.

Then came the year 512 AH.

In it: the khuṭbah was delivered in the name of Sultan Maḥmūd ibn Muḥammad ibn Malikshāh by order of the caliph al-Mustazhir Billah.

In it as well: Dubays ibn Ṣadaqah ibn Manṣūr al-Asadī asked Sultan Maḥmūd to reinstate him over al-Ḥillah and the other districts that his father had previously administered (5). The sultan granted his request and appointed him to the very posts his father had held (6); his rank therefore became great and his stature rose.

The Death of the Caliph al-Mustazhir Billah

He was Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad, son of the Commander of the Faithful (7) al-Muqtadī bi-Amr Allah. He was righteous, virtuous, intelligent, and accomplished, and he wrote an elegant, proportional script. During his days, Baghdad seemed like the feast-days themselves. He was eager for piety and good works, quick to perform them, and he never turned a petitioner away. Amiable in social dealings (8), he would not lend an ear to the words of slanderers about the people, nor did he put his trust in the underlings who served him.