declared that they were (1) among the finest of the amirs and the foremost of the notables (2). Why, he asked, had they not entrusted the child to Majd al-Dīn ibn al-Dāyah, the man who, of all people, enjoyed the greatest favor with Nūr al-Dīn—may Allah have mercy on him—(3) and with the populace at large? The emirs wrote back to him in a manner that showed scant respect (4); all of this only heightened his anger toward them and pressed him to come against them with his army. At that moment, however, he was wholly preoccupied by the immense affair that had struck his own dominions (5), as will be explained, God willing, at the beginning of the coming year (6).

Among the notables and distinguished figures who died in this same year were:

Abū al-ʿAlāʾ al-Hamadhānī (7)—al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-ʿAṭṭār—an eminent ḥāfiẓ (hadith master). He heard a vast amount of hadith, journeyed to many lands, met the great teachers, came to Baghdad, and acquired a large collection of books (8). He devoted himself to the sciences of Qurʾanic readings and language until he became the unrivalled (9) authority of his age in knowledge of the Book and the Sunnah. He authored numerous beneficial works and followed the path of the salaf, a praiseworthy way (10). He was generous, devout, ascetic, sound in creed, and dignified in bearing; in his homeland he enjoyed complete esteem and acceptance. He died on the night of Thursday, the eleventh of Jumādā al-Ākhirah of this year, having lived past eighty by four months and a few days.

Ibn al-Jawzī said (11): “It reached me that he was seen in a dream [in a city] (12) whose every wall was made of books, with books beyond count (13) spread all around him, and he was engrossed in reading them. He was asked, ‘What is this?’ He replied, ‘I asked Allah to occupy me in the Hereafter with that which had occupied me in the world, and He granted it to me.’” (14)