and he was regarded as one of the eminent scholars and leading figures of his homeland. He died suddenly after the Friday prayer, on the sixth of Shawwal (1) of this year, at the age of sixty-four. This is stated by Ibn Khallikān (2).

Section:
On the death of the Just King Nūr al-Dīn (3) Maḥmūd ibn Zankī [ibn Aq Sunqur, the Turkic Seljuq] in this year—may Allah have mercy on him—(4) and a brief mention of his equitable conduct and consummate days

He is the Just King Nūr al-Dīn, Abū al-Qāsim (5) Maḥmūd, son of the atabeg Qasīm al-Dawlah ʿImād al-Dīn Abū Saʿīd Zankī, nicknamed al-Shahīd, son of al-Malik Aq Sunqur the atabeg, likewise styled Qasīm al-Dawlah, a Turkic Seljuq client.

He was born at sunrise on Sunday, the seventeenth of Shawwal in the year 511 AH (6), in Aleppo. He was reared under the guardianship of his father, who ruled Aleppo, Mosul, and many other cities. He learned the Quran (7), horsemanship, and archery. He was bold and courageous, of lofty ambition, sound purpose, great dignity, and firm piety (8).

When his father was killed in 541 AH, while besieging Jaʿbar (9) as we have mentioned, sovereignty over Aleppo passed to this son, Maḥmūd, and his brother Sayf al-Dīn Ghāzī was given Mosul, as noted earlier. King Nūr al-Dīn later captured Damascus in 549 AH, treated its people with generosity, built for them madrasahs, mosques, and ribāṭs, widened their roads and markets (10), and abolished the tolls levied at the Water-Melon House, on sheep, at the river-port (11), and elsewhere.