He is the one who, when you are present, gladdens you among the people, and, when you are absent, serves as your ear and eye;
like the [sirr] of carnelian (1): if flame touches it, the polishing only adds to its beauty.
Whereas the evil brother—if he is away from you he despises you, and if he draws near (2) his very presence is a stain.
His bosom is far from sincere, and his wish is that the loyal friend be drenched in slander and deceit.
So cut him off (3) and feel no regret for him; the loss he causes you is, like ready cash, a mere debt (4).
[Then came the year 621 AH]
In that year a raiding party from the forces of Chinggis Khan, different from the earlier ones (5), reached Rayy. The city had only recently been rebuilt, yet they massacred its inhabitants as well. They then marched to Sāwah, and from there to Qumm and Kāshān—places never before attacked—inflicting on them the same killing and enslavement as earlier. Next they advanced to Hamadhān, where they again killed and took captives; after that they pursued the Khwārazmians into Ādharbayjān, routed them (6), and slew a great multitude of them.
The Khwārazmians fled to Tabriz, but the Mongols overtook them and wrote to Ibn al-Bahlawān: “If you want peace with us, hand over the Khwārazmians (7); otherwise you are one of them.” He therefore killed a number of them and sent their heads to the Mongols together with many gifts and presents [numerous; all this although the raiding party numbered only three thousand, while the Khwārazmian troops and the forces of Ibn al-Bahlawān] (8) were many times their size. Yet Allah, Exalted is He, cast upon them (9) disgrace and failure. Indeed, to Allah we belong and to Him we shall return.
In the same year:
Ghiyāth al-Dīn, son of Khwārazm-Shāh, took possession of the lands of Fārs along with the dominion he already held (10) over the kingdoms of Isfahān and Hamadhān.
Also in that year:
King al-Ashraf recovered the city of Khalāṭ from his brother Shihāb al-Dīn Ghāzī. He had previously granted it to him together with all the lands of Armenia, Mayyāfāriqīn, Ḥānī (11), and Mount Jūr (12), and had even appointed him as his heir; but when he rebelled against him