He came from Damascus to Baghdad on an embassy from al-ʿĀdil; the army, together with the chief of the chamberlains, went out to meet him. Accompanying him was the nephew of the lord of Irbil, Muẓaffar al-Dīn Kukburi (1). The letter he bore contained an apology on behalf of the ruler of Irbil and a request that he be restored to favor, and this was granted.

During the same year al-ʿĀdil seized al-Khabur and Nisibin and laid siege to the city of Sinjar for some time, but he was unable to take it (2). He therefore concluded a truce with its ruler and withdrew.

Among the well-known and distinguished persons who died this year (3) were:

Abū al-Makārim Asʿad (4) ibn al-Khaṭīr Abī Saʿīd Muhadhdhab ibn Mīnā (5) ibn Zakariyā, [al-Asʿad ibn Mammātī] (6) ibn Abī Qudāmah ibn Abī Malīḥ, the Egyptian secretary and poet. He embraced Islam during the reign of Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn and for a time supervised the state dīwāns in Egypt. Ibn Khallikān (7) said: “He possessed many virtues and authored numerous works (8); he versified the life of Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn and Kalīlah wa Dimnah, and he also produced a collected dīwān of poetry. When the vizier Ibn Shakar (9) took office, he fled from him to Aleppo, where he died at the age of sixty-two years.”

Of his verse, composed about a slow-moving visitor who came to him in Damascus (10), is the following line in the hazaj metre:

He mirrored two great rivers—never upon the earth is there one who can mirror them (11).