after him, and he was of Turkish stock. He rose to the rank of the senior Ḥanafī scholars, was firmly devout, and composed refined, graceful poetry, of which are the following lines:

[metre: al-sarīʿ]
Whoever pretends to have reached a state
that frees him from the path of Sacred Law,
keep not his company,
for he brings harm (1) and no benefit.

He died in Mosul on the twenty-sixth of Jumāda al-Ākhira of this year, at about eighty years of age.

Yāqūt—also known as Yaʿqūb ibn ʿAbd Allah (2), Najīb al-Dīn—served as the trustee appointed by Shaykh Tāj al-Dīn al-Kindī. Shaykh Tāj al-Dīn endowed to him (3) the books kept in the treasury at the north-eastern corner of the Great Mosque of Damascus, a collection of seven hundred and sixty-one (4) volumes, stipulating that after Yāqūt they should pass to his son and thereafter to the scholars. The books were later squandered and most of them were sold (5). Yāqūt himself possessed learning, refinement, and good poetry. He died in Baghdad on the first of Rajab and was buried in the Khayzurān cemetery near the shrine of Abū Ḥanīfa.

Then the year 624 AH began.

In it: The Georgians invited the common people of Tbilisi into the city; when they entered, the Georgians massacred both commoners and notables, plundered, took captives, laid waste, and burned. They then departed in high spirits. When news of this reached Jalāl al-Dīn, he hastened after them but did not catch them.

In the same year: The Ismaʿilis assassinated a senior amir who was one of Jalāl al-Dīn ibn Khwārazm-Shāh’s deputies. Jalāl al-Dīn marched against their lands, killed great numbers of them, destroyed their city, carried off their women and children, and seized their wealth. They—may Allah disgrace them—had been among the greatest supporters of the enemies of the Muslims when the Mongols first descended upon the region, and they were more harmful to the people than the Mongols themselves.

Also in this year: Jalāl al-Dīn engaged a large contingent (6) of the Tatars, routed them, slew and captured many, and pursued them for several days (7).