“…Get up; we have been ordered(1) to take you to Baʿlabakk.” Certain then that death awaited him, he said, “Allow me to pray two rakʿahs.” Dāwūd retorted, “Stand up!” He rose and began to pray,(2) but he prolonged the prayer, whereupon the Christian kicked him and hurled him from the mountaintop down into the valley below. He had scarcely fallen before his body was torn to pieces. It is related that the hem of his robe caught on a rocky ledge, yet Dāwūd kept pelting him with stones until he sent him crashing to the valley floor. This took place at al-Shaqīf,(3) which overlooks the Nahr Ibrāhīm.

Al-Sibt(4) comments: He held a corrupt creed, being a dahrī (eternalist) who mocked the dictates of the Sacred Law; he would enter the court drunk,(5) and attend Friday prayer in the same state, while his house resembled a tavern. There is no power and no might except through Allah, the Most High, the Tremendous. He(6) adds: Al-Muwaffaq al-Wāsitī, one of his stewards—who(7) was among the greatest of calamities—appropriated six hundred thousand dirhams from the people’s wealth. He was subjected to a severe punishment until the money was recovered; his legs were broken and he died under the blows. His corpse was thrown into the cemeteries of the Jews and Christians, and the dogs(8) devoured him.

Among the notables who also died that year were:

Shaykh Shams al-Dīn Abū al-Futūḥ(9) ʿUmar ibn Asʿad ibn al-Munajjā al-Tanūkhī al-Maʿarrī the Ḥanbalī, formerly judge of Ḥarrān. He later came to Damascus, taught at the Sumsariyyah, and served in the Muʿaẓẓamīd administration. He transmitted hadith from Ibn Ṣābir(10) and from the two judges al-Shahrazūrī(11) and Ibn Abī ʿAsrūn.(12) He passed away on the seventh of Rabīʿ al-Awwal of this same year—may Allah have mercy on him.