He said: He bound himself in it to what was not binding—namely, inserting the letter zāy before the lām (1).
He also said: His brother Ṣāʾin al-Dīn Hibat Allah ibn al-Ḥasan was a scholar of ḥadith and a jurist. He studied in Baghdad under Asʿad al-Mīhanī (3), then came to Damascus and taught at the Ghazāliyya (4). He died there in the year 563 AH (5). May Allah’s mercy embrace them and us by His grace.
[Then came the year 572 AH] The year opened while Sultan Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn (6) was besieging Aleppo, [and he had all but attained his goal] (7). Its people entreated him and pleaded with him to make peace; so he agreed, on condition that Aleppo and its surrounding districts (8) be assigned solely to al-Malik al-Ṣāliḥ. He drew up the treaty to that effect (9) and finalized the terms.
When evening fell (10) Sultan al-Ṣāliḥ Ismāʿīl sent word to al-Malik al-Nāṣir, asking him to visit the fortress of ʿIzzāz in appreciation of the honor he had bestowed on him. He dispatched with the message his young sister—the khātūn, daughter of Nūr al-Dīn—so that this might better secure [the request and more surely obtain] (12) the desired favor.
The moment al-Nāṣir (13) saw her, he rose straight up like a fresh sapling, kissed the ground, granted her petition, and bestowed upon her such jewels [and precious gifts as he deemed incumbent upon himself] (14).
(1) In manuscripts B and Ṭ it reads “bima lam yalzam,” with a zāy in place of the lām.
(2) Al-Wafayat al-A‘yan (vol. 3, p. 311) provides more details.
(3) In manuscript A it reads “Abi As’ad.” This is a scribal error: As’ad al-Mihyani was one of Ibn ‘Asakir’s teachers, and his biography was given above under the events of the year 523 in this volume.
(4) In al-Wafayat al-A‘yan it states, “He taught in the western maqsurah of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus.” These two institutions appear to be the same, since the Ghazalian madrasa was a corner of the Umayyad Mosque originally known as the Zawiya of Shaykh Nasr al-Maqdisi; after al-Ghazali settled there it became associated with him. See Munadamat al-Atlal, pp. 134–35.
(5) The final phrase does not appear in either manuscript B or Ṭ. According to Bashar, “Al-Ṣā’in copied an edition in his own hand, dated by al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī; some of these copies have reached us, and they rank among the finest, featuring the recitations (samā‘) of its author and of his brother Abū al-Qāsim.”
(6) In manuscript Ṭ their reading is “wa al-nāsir.”
(7) Not present in manuscript Ṭ.
(8) In manuscript B: “wa ‘amaluhā.”
(9) In manuscript Ṭ: “fa-katabū.”
(10) In manuscript Ṭ: “al-masā’.”
(11) In manuscript Ṭ: “yuṭlab.”
(12) In manuscript Ṭ it reads “ud‘iya lahu bi-qabūl al-su’āl wa anjaḥ fī ḥuṣūl al-nawāl” (“he prayed that his supplication be accepted and that he might succeed in attaining the grant”).
(13) In manuscript Ṭ: “al-sulṭān.”
(14) In manuscript Ṭ: “wa al-tuḥaf shay’an kathīran” (“and many gifts”).