of Damascus, on the southern side of the ridge (1) at Ṣanʿāʾ al-Shām, an ancient and well-known village. She endowed it to Shaykh Burhān al-Dīn ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad al-Balkhī, the Ḥanafī previously mentioned.
She was the wife of King Būrī ibn Ṭughtikīn and bore him two sons, the first being Shams al-Mulūk Ismāʿīl, already cited, who succeeded his father (2). His conduct soon deteriorated: he confiscated people’s property, colluded with the Franks against the Muslims, and even planned to hand over the [al-balad wa-l-amwāl]—the city and its wealth—(3) to them, whereupon they killed him. His brother then assumed power, but only after consulting her and receiving her support.
She had recited the Noble Quran, listened to hadith, and followed the Ḥanafī school; she loved scholars and the righteous. Atabeg Zangī, lord of Aleppo, married her in the hope of gaining Damascus through her, yet he achieved nothing (4). She went to Aleppo to be with him, and after his death returned to Damascus.
She later entered Baghdad, travelled from there to the noble Ḥijāz, resided in Mecca for a year, then returned (5) and settled in the Prophet’s City until she died there and was buried in al-Baqīʿ that same year. She was devoted to charity, almsgiving, maintaining ties of kinship, fasting, and prayer.
Al-Sibt said: She did not die until very little remained in her possession. She would sift wheat and barley and live on the wage she earned for that (6); this is the perfection of goodness, felicity, and a blessed end. May Allah, exalted be He, have mercy on her, and Allah knows best (7).
Then came the year 558 AH.
In that year the ruler of the Maghrib, ʿAbd al-Muʾmin ibn ʿAlī, died—the disciple and successor of Ibn Tūmart—in the city of Salā. His son Yūsuf embalmed him and had him conveyed to Marrakesh under the guise that he was merely ill (8). When they arrived, he announced his death; the people offered their condolences, pledged allegiance to him as ruler, and bestowed upon him the title Commander of the Faithful.