He transmitted ḥadith, mastered fiqh according to the school of Imām Aḥmad, engaged in debate and issued fatwas, taught, and collected an enormous number of books the like of which no one before him had assembled; he also acted as a deputy in the judiciary. He was of upright conduct, fine manners, and sound judgments. He built a madrasa at Bāb al-Azaj, the institution later ascribed to Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlī (1). He was afterwards removed from office and heavily fined in 511 AH. His death came in Muḥarram of that same year, and he was buried beside Abū Bakr al-Khallāl, near the grave of Aḥmad.
[Then the year 514 AH began.]
In the middle of Rabīʿ I a great battle took place between the two sultans, the brothers Maḥmūd and Masʿūd, sons of Muḥammad ibn Malikshāh, at the Asdābādh Pass. Masʿūd’s army was routed, and his vizier, al-Ustād Abū Ismāʿīl (2), together with a number of his amirs, was captured. Sultan Maḥmūd ordered the vizier’s execution; Abū Ismāʿīl was accordingly put to death a little over sixty years of age, and he had authored several works (3) on the art of alchemy. Maḥmūd then sent (4) his brother Masʿūd a pledge of safe-conduct and summoned him; when they met (5) they embraced (6), wept, and concluded peace.
In the same year: Dubays [ibn Ṣadaqa] (7), lord of al-Ḥillah, plundered the surrounding lands. He then rode to Baghdād in person, set up a tent opposite the caliphal palace, laid bare the rancor within him, recalled how his father’s head had been paraded through the provinces, and threatened al-Mustarshid. The caliph sent envoys to calm him, promising to reconcile him with Sultan Maḥmūd. When the sultan reached Baghdād, Dubays requested safe-conduct; Maḥmūd granted it and treated him as usual. Nevertheless, Dubays went on to loot the sultan’s (8) army. Sultan Maḥmūd therefore mounted in person to fight him, taking with him a thousand boats [to cross to al-Ḥillah] (9). Dubays fled before him, sought refuge with Ilghāzī, stayed with him for a year, then returned to al-Ḥillah (10) and sent a message to the caliph and the sultan.