in its entirety (1). He kept company with Shaykh ʿAlī ibn Idrīs (2), a disciple of Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qādir (3). He was sharp-witted—his countenance radiated light (4)—and he would compose, off the cuff and at remarkable speed, polished, fluent, and eloquent verses. He versified al-Kāfī, authored by (5) Muwaffaq al-Dīn Ibn Qudāmah (6), as well as the Mukhtaṣar of al-Khirāqī. As for his hymns in praise of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, they are said to fill twenty volumes, and it is well known that he never praised any created human being except the Prophets (7).
When the Tatars invaded Baghdad, he was summoned to a house in which (8) Karmūn (9) ibn Hulāgū was staying, but he refused to go. He stocked his own residence with stones, and when the Tatars burst in on him he hurled those stones at them, smashing a number of them. When they finally reached him he killed one of them with his staff, whereupon they killed him (10); thus he was martyred—may Allah Almighty have mercy on him—at the age of sixty-eight.
Shaykh Quṭb al-Dīn al-Yūnīnī cited a substantial passage from his dīwān in his biographical supplement, al-Dhail (11), covering every letter of the alphabet, and he mentioned (12) many other long, beautiful odes. May Allah Most High have mercy on him.
Al-Bahāʾ Zuhayr (13), author of the Dīwān (14), is Zuhayr ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Yaḥyā ibn al-Ḥusayn (15) ibn Jaʿfar.
(1) In MSS. A and B, the phrase “between the two fortresses” is read as “with its completion.”
(2) Ali ibn Idris al-Yaqoubi, the ascetic, companion of Shaykh ‘Abd al-Qadir, a devoted worshipper and pious mystic of wide renown. See Al-‘Ibar, vol. 5, p. 77; and Al-‘Ilam bi-Wafayat al-A‘lam, p. 255.
(3) Shaykh ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jili died in 561 AH. See Siyar A‘lam al-Nubala’, vol. 20, p. 439.
(4) Appears only in the printed edition.
(5) In MSS. A and B: al-Kafi by Shaykh Muwaffaq al-Din.
(6) The biography of al-Muwaffaq al-Maqdisi was presented earlier under the events of 520 AH in this volume.
(7) Appears only in the printed edition.
(8) In the printed edition: “Zari‘aha,” which is a corruption.
(9) In MSS. A and B the name is “Qarman.” Hulagu has seventeen names; some are listed by al-Yunini in the supplement to Mir’at al-Zaman (2:359), by Ibn Shakir al-Kutbi in Fawatih (4:241), and by Ibn Taghribirdi in Nawāʾih min (7:221). The editor of Fawatih adds the remaining names, but neither Qarman nor Karmun appears among them.
(10) In MSS. A and B: “and they killed him.”
(11) Supplement to Mir’at al-Zaman, vol. 1, pp. 256–332.
(12) Appears only in the printed edition.
(13) The biography of al-Bahā’ Zuhayr appears in Dhayl al-Rawdhatayn (p. 201); Wafayāt al-A‘yān (2:332–338); Dhayl Mir’at al-Zaman (1:184–197); Tārīkh al-Islām (14:814); Siyar A‘lam al-Nubala’ (23:355–356); Al-‘Ibar (5:330); al-Nujūm al-Zāhira (7:62–63); Hasan al-Mahādhara (1:567); Shadharāt al-Dhahab (7:476–478); Al-A‘lam (3:52); and Mu‘jam al-Mu’allifin (4:187).
(14) His Dīwān was printed in Beirut by Dār Ṣādir in 1400 AH/1980 CE, 415 pages.
(15) As in our base manuscripts. In Dhayl al-Rawdhatayn, Wafayāt al-A‘yān, al-Nujūm al-Zāhira, and Hasan al-Mahādhara it is “al-Hasan,” which is the correct reading.