[In this same year]

(1) The Khazars took possession of the city of Balkh; with a stroke of fortune they smashed its defenses (2) and subdued its people. [They routed them and, after dispatching envoys] (3) to the Caliph, they asked him to prevent Khwarazm Shah from entering Iraq, for the latter was intent on having the Friday khuṭba proclaimed for him in Baghdad.

During the same year Khwarazm Shah besieged the city of Bukhara and, after some time, succeeded in capturing it. The city had long defied him, and fortune had hitherto been on its side (4). He overcame them all and seized it (5) by force, yet he spared its inhabitants and pardoned them (6). They had previously dressed a one-eyed dog in a tunic, called it “Khwarazm Shah,” and catapulted it toward the Khwarazmian lines, shouting, “This is your king!” Because Khwarazm Shah himself was one-eyed, when he finally gained the upper hand (7) he forgave them—may Allah reward him with goodness.

Among the notable people who died this year was al-ʿAwwām ibn Zubādah (8), secretary of state at the caliphal court. He was Abū Ṭālib Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd ibn Hibat Allāh ibn Ziyādah, [Qiwām al-Dīn] (9). In his day he reached the pinnacle of authority over official correspondence, rhetoric, and eloquence in Iraq. He also possessed extensive learning beyond that—in particular jurisprudence according to the Shāfiʿī school, which he studied under Ibn Faḍlān (10). He had a firm grasp of the two fundamental disciplines, arithmetic and philology, and he composed fine poetry. He held several offices and was praised in every one of them.

Among his choicest verses are the following:

[al-Basīṭ]
Do not disdain an enemy you think beneath your care;
How often has fickle Time thrown earnest strength to despair.
Behold: even the sun is touched (11) by an eclipse,
Majestic though it is with head and tail laid bare.