A member of the Berber clan of Jazūla—and also known as al-Yazdaktani (1), the Maghribī grammarian—he is the author of the celebrated and exquisite Muqaddima. He himself and his pupils produced commentaries on it (2), yet all of them admit that in many passages they failed to grasp his true intent. He travelled to Egypt (3) and studied under Ibn Barrī, then returned to his homeland where he was appointed preacher of Marrakesh. His death (4) occurred in this very year, though some say earlier; Allah knows best.
[Then the year 611 AH began]
Events of the year:
• The Khwarazmshah sent one of his closest commanders (5)—who had previously been governor of Sirwan (6) before becoming a privy amir—at the head of an army. He conquered for him Kerman (7), Makran (8), and the lands up to the frontier of Sind, and the khutba was delivered in the Khwarazmshah’s name throughout those regions (9). The Khwarazmshah would spend the summer only in the vicinity of Samarkand, fearing that the Tatars under Kushluq Khan might fall upon the border districts (10) adjacent to their territory.
• Abū Shāma (11) relates: In this same year the paving of the interior of the Umayyad Mosque began; they started from the area of al-Sabʿ al-Kabīr. The mosque floor had hitherto (12) been full of pits and hollows, and the people found relief once it was paved (13).
= (5/24) Siyar A‘lam al-Nubala’ (vol. 21, p. 497); Bughyat al-Wu‘āh (vol. 2, p. 236); Shudhūr al-Dhahab (vol. 7, pp. 49–50); he died in 607 AH.
(1) Ibn Khallikān records the vocalization as having a fatḥ on the lower yāʼ of the dual ending, a sukun on the zāʼ, a fatḥ on the emphatic dāl, a sukun on the kāf, a fatḥ on the upper yāʼ of the dual ending, followed by nūn; this nisba denotes a sub-clan (fakhidh) of Juzūla.
(2) In witness B: “and he stipulated it.”
(3) In manuscripts A and B: “the Egyptian territories.”
(4) In the printed edition: “he died.”
(5) In B: “anhu” (“by him”). Ibn al-Athīr (vol. 9, p. 308) reports that one of his father’s amirs was an emir named Abū Bakr, nicknamed Tāj.
(6) In the printed edition: “Sīrwānīyah.” Ibn al-Athīr says: “At the outset of his service he was a camel-driver who rented out camels on journeys. Then fortune smiled upon him and he entered the service of the Khwarazmshāh; Sīrwān became his steward, and the shah, noting his integrity and reliability, promoted him until he stood among the foremost amirs of his army, appointing him over the city of Zawzan. He was prudent, discerning, resolute, and courageous, and he gained the Khwarazmshāh’s confidence more than any other emir in his realm.”
(7) “Kirmān”: pronounced with a fatḥ on the k, then sukun, ending with nūn; though occasionally with kasra, the fatḥ form is more common. (Mu‘jam al-Buldān, 4:454)
(8) In A: “nakrān,” a corruption. “Makrān”: with ḍamma on the m, sukun on the k, followed by rāʼ and nūn; a non-Arabic term. (Mu‘jam al-Buldān, 5:179)
(9) In the printed edition: “and he delivered sermons for him in those lands.”
(10) In the printed edition: “that they took position on the outskirts of those lands.”
(11) Dhayl al-Rawḍatayn (p. 86), with a variant reading in the transmission.
(12) In manuscripts A and B: “he began in the region of the Sab‘ al-Kabīr, and he was.”
(13) In the printed edition: “in his paving.”