• Hibat Allah ibn ʿAlī [ibn Muḥammad] (1) ibn Ḥamzah, Abū al-Saʿādāt al-Shajarī (2), the grammarian (3). He was born in 450 AH, studied ḥadith, and the leadership of the grammarians eventually rested with him. Al-Shajarī said, “I have never heard a line of censure more forceful than the verse attributed to Miskawayh (4):
[from the ṭawīl metre] (5)
I am but musk that has been lost among you—
With you it is wasted, yet with most people it diffuses its scent.

[Then came the year 543 AH]
In that year:
• Mujīr al-Dīn, son of the atabeg of Damascus, appealed to King Nūr al-Dīn Maḥmūd (6), lord of Aleppo, for aid against the Franks. Nūr al-Dīn set out at once, met them (7) on the plain of Buṣrā, routed them, and then returned to encamp at al-Kiswah. The ruler of Damascus, Mujīr al-Dīn Abaq (8), came out, served him, and showed him honor, and the Damascenes beheld Nūr al-Dīn’s stature [to the point that they wished for him] (9).

• That same year the Franks seized al-Mahdiyya (10). Its ruler, al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ibn Yaḥyā ibn Tamīm ibn al-Muʿizz ibn Bādīs ibn Manṣūr ibn Yūsuf ibn Buluggīn ibn Zīrī (11), fled with his family and whatever light wealth he could carry. They were scattered across the lands (12) and swallowed up by the surrounding regions. [He was the last of the Banū Bādīs kings] (13); their rule had begun in 335 AH. The Franks entered the city while its treasuries were crammed with stores, riches, equipment, and more besides. Indeed, to Allah we belong and to Him we shall return.