al-Ahwāzī (1), custodian of the books in the shrine of Abū Ḥanīfah at Baghdad, died suddenly in Rabīʿ al-Awwal of this year; his father and his brother had likewise died suddenly, just as he did. May Allah—exalted is He—have mercy on them.
Maḥmūd ibn Zankī ibn Āq Sunqur, the just sultan Nūr al-Dīn, lord of Syria and many other vast lands (2):
[He fought jihad against the Franks, enjoined what is right, forbade what is wrong, loved the scholars, the poor, and the righteous, hated injustice, was sound in creed, and preferred works of goodness; in his days no one dared to wrong another. He suppressed sinful practices and their practitioners, exalted knowledge and the Sacred Law, was constant in standing for prayer at night, fasted frequently, and restrained himself from desires. He loved to make things easy for the Muslims and would send charity to the scholars, the poor, the needy, orphans, and widows. The world meant nothing to him—may Allah have mercy on him and water his grave with mercy and divine pleasure] (3).
[Ibn al-Jawzī (4) said: "He wrested (5) from the hands of the unbelievers a little over fifty cities … and he used to correspond with me (6). May Allah have mercy on him."] (7).
He said (8): When death approached him he took an oath from the emirs that, after him, they would pledge allegiance to his son—i.e., al-Ṣāliḥ Ismāʿīl—and he renewed the treaty with the lord of Tripoli that he would not raid Syria for the term for which they had concluded the truce. This was because Nūr al-Dīn had once captured him in one of his campaigns, together with a number of men from his realm. He ransomed himself for three hundred thousand dinars, five hundred horses, five hundred coats of mail (9), an equal number of shields (10), qanṭuriyyāt (11), and five hundred Muslim prisoners. He further covenanted that he would not attack the Muslims for seven years, seven months, and seven days, and Nūr al-Dīn took one hundred hostages from among the sons of the leading Frankish nobles and their barons, threatening to shed their blood should the pact be broken. He had resolved to conquer Jerusalem (12),