al-Rashīd the Sufi:
He used to sit on a chair before Ibn al-ʿAbbādī (1). He had a handsome white beard, a noble bearing, and great composure. He was constant [in] attending the samāʿ gatherings (spiritual auditions). It happened that he died while dancing at one of those samāʿ sessions—may Allah Most High have mercy on him (2).

[Then the year 563 AH began.]
In Ṣafar of that year (3) Sharaf al-Dīn Abū Jaʿfar ibn al-Baladī (4) arrived in Baghdad from Wāsiṭ. The army, the two Naqībs, and the chief judge went out to receive him. The people walked before him to the Dīwān, where he sat upon the vizier’s dais, his decree of appointment was read aloud, and it was a memorable day. He was invested with the titles: Vizier Sharaf al-Dīn, Jalāl al-Islām, Muʿizz al-Dawla, Master of the Viziers, the Foremost of East and West.

In that same year the tribe of Khafāja caused disorder in the provinces and plundered the villages. An army was therefore dispatched (5) against them from Baghdad, but they fled into the wastelands. The troops broke off the pursuit for fear of thirst, whereupon the Khafāja wheeled round, killed many soldiers, and captured others. The army had already taken a number of them prisoner (6), and they were crucified upon the city walls.

In Shawwāl of that year (7) the wife of King Nūr al-Dīn Maḥmūd ibn Zangī reached Baghdad, intending to perform the ḥajj (8) from there. She was the Lady ʿIṣmat al-Dīn Khātūn, daughter of Muʿīn al-Dīn Unur. The army went out to welcome her (9), together with Ṣandal the chamberlain (10). Pavilions (11) were carried for her, and she was shown the utmost honour.

In that same year the Chief Judge of Baghdad, Jaʿfar ibn al-Thaqafī, died, leaving the city without a magistrate for twenty-three (12)