He was born in 437 AH (1). He performed the pilgrimage and remained in Mecca for a time. He heard ḥadith (2) and narrated (3) only a small number of them. An ascetic, he kept apart from people and busied himself with his own spiritual affairs (4).

Once he sailed with a group of merchants. When they reached an island, he said, “Leave me here so that I may worship Allah the Exalted (5).” They refused, but he insisted on staying. So they left him and continued their voyage, yet the wind drove them back to him—[they urged him to travel with them, he declined; they sailed off, and the wind again returned them to him] (6). They then said, “We cannot proceed (7) without you. If you wish to remain, come with us first and then return.” He sailed with them, then came back to the island, where he stayed for a while before departing. [It is said that on that island he lived on whatever provisions it afforded] (8). Others relate that the island contained a serpent large enough to swallow a person, and that it had a spring from which he drank and performed his ablutions.

He later returned to his hometown of Āmul (9), where he died this year. His grave is well known and visited—may Allah have mercy on him.

The mother (10) of the caliph al-Mustarshid died on the night of Monday, shortly after the ‘ishāʾ prayer, the ninth of Shawwāl [of this year] (11). Allah, Glorified and Exalted, knows best (12).

[Then the year 529 AH began.] In that year al-Mustarshid died and al-Rashid assumed the caliphate. The reason was that a serious conflict had arisen between Sultan Masʿūd and the caliph, and the situation demanded that the caliph wished