Toward the end of Dhu al-Hijjah the caliph al-Mustaʿṣim bi-llāh, Commander of the Faithful, had his two sons—the amirs Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad and Abū al-Faḍāʾil ʿAbd al-Raḥmān—circumcised. Banquets were held with every form of joy and festivity (1), the like of which had not been heard for many a long age; it proved to be a farewell to the delights of Baghdad and its people in those days.

That same year al-Nāṣir Dāwūd, lord of al-Karak, arrested the amir ʿImād al-Dīn Dāwūd ibn Musak ibn Jikar (2)—one of the finest and most generous of commanders (3). He confiscated all his wealth and imprisoned him in al-Karak. Fakhr al-Dīn Ibn al-Shaykh (4) interceded for him while besieging the fortress, whereupon he released him. A swelling broke out in the man’s throat (5); when it was lanced he died, and he was buried beside the grave of Jaʿfar and the martyrs at Muʾtah (6)—may Allah have mercy on him.

In that year as well, the Khwarazmian king Barakāt Khān died after his forces had been routed at the Lake of Ḥimṣ, as noted above.

During the same year al-Malik al-Manṣūr (7) Nāṣir al-Dīn Ibrāhīm, son of al-Malik al-Mujāhid Asad al-Dīn Shīrkūh and lord of Ḥimṣ, died in Damascus after surrendering Baʿlabakk to al-Ṣāliḥ Ayyūb (8). He was transferred to Ḥimṣ, residing first in the Garden of Sāmah; when he fell ill he was moved to al-Dahshah, the Garden of al-Ashraf at al-Nayrab, where he passed away (9).

That year also witnessed the death of al-Ṣāʾin Muḥammad ibn Ḥassān (10) ibn Rāfiʿ al-ʿĀmirī, the preacher. He had heard a vast number of hadiths and transmitted them with full chains of narration; he died at Qaṣr Ḥajjāj—may Allah have mercy on him.