Then came the year 537 AH.
In it: ʿImād al-Dīn Zangi took possession of al-Haditha, transferred the family of Mahārash from there to Mosul, and installed deputies of his own in the town (1).

Then came the year 538 AH.
In it: Sultan Masʿud (2) made ready to seize Mosul and Syria from ʿImād al-Dīn (3) Zangi, but the latter concluded peace with him for one hundred thousand dinars. He paid twenty thousand, and the Sultan remitted the rest, the reason being that Zangi’s son, Sayf al-Dīn Ghazi, was continually in Sultan Masʿud’s service.
In the same year ʿImād al-Dīn (4) Zangi gained control of part of Diyār Bakr.
That year King Sanjar besieged the Khwarazm-Shah, then took money from him and released him.
That year a man was found committing sodomy with a boy, so he was thrown from the top of a minaret.
On the night of Tuesday, the twenty-fourth of Dhu al-Qaʿda, the earth quaked.
The pilgrims were led by Naẓar al-Khādim, may Allah reward him (5).

Among the notable figures who died this year was ʿAbd al-Wahhāb b. al-Mubārak b. Aḥmad, Abū al-Barakāt al-Anmāṭī (6), the ḥadīth scholar: he had heard a vast amount and transmitted it (7). He was trustworthy, religious, and devout, cheerful of face and easy in manner. He died in Muḥarram at the age of ninety-six.