and they fought the ruler of Marrakesh, ʿAlī ibn Yūsuf ibn Tāshfīn, king of the Veiled Ones (Mulaththamūn). Consequently, ʿAbd al-Muʾmin seized control (1) of Oran, Tlemcen, Fez, Salā, and Ceuta; he then besieged Marrakesh for eleven months and captured it in 542 AH. Thereafter the realms of that region were firmly secured to him and his days ran smooth.

He was intelligent, resolute (2), dignified in bearing, handsome, and inclined toward beneficence. [He died in 558 AH, after thirty-three years on the throne] (3). He styled himself “Commander of the Believers.”

Ṭalḥa ibn ʿAlī ibn Ṭarād, Abū Aḥmad al-Zaynabī, the naqīb of the naqībs (4):
He died suddenly—may Allah have mercy on him—and the office of naqība passed to his son Abū al-Ḥasan (5) ʿAlī, who was still beardless. He was dismissed [in this same year and his property was confiscated] (6).

Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm ibn Ibrāhīm [ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm] (7), Abū ʿAbd Allāh, better known (8) as Ibn al-Anbārī (9):
He was director of the chancery in Baghdad, an urbane and gracious elder. Unique in the craft of official prose, he was sent as an envoy to King Sanjar and others, and served both kings and caliphs. He lived to nearly ninety. Among his verses—[on those enamoured of the world and of outward forms] (10), in the metre makhḍūʿ al-basīṭ (11)—are the following:

O you who left me, and care not a whit—(12)
will the sovereignty of union ever return?
Ah, torment of my heart, I scarcely dare hope (13)
that my mind might know ease in loving you.
My eyes, as you knew them, still weep,
and my body, as you see, is worn away. (14)