In that same year:
Abgha engaged Mankutamur, who had succeeded Berke Khan; Abgha routed him and carried off abundant spoils.
Ibn Khallikan (1) recounts—citing the autograph of Shaykh Qutb al-Din al-Yunini—that news reached us of a man living in the monastery of Abu Salamah in the vicinity of Bosra. The man was given to frivolity and irreverence. When the use of the siwak (tooth-stick) and the merit attached to it were mentioned in his presence, he swore, “By Allah, I will only use the siwak in the exit,” meaning his anus. He thereupon took a siwak, inserted it into his anus, and then withdrew it. From that moment he suffered for nine months [constantly complaining of abdominal pain and anal distress, until he was seized by pains like those of a woman in labor (2)]. Eventually he delivered a creature resembling a large rat: it had four (3) legs, a head like that of a fish, [four protruding fangs, and a tail nearly a span and four fingers long], and a posterior like that of a hare. When it emerged, the creature uttered three cries. The man’s daughter rose, crushed its head, and it died. The man himself survived for two more days, dying on the third while repeating, “That creature has killed me and ripped my intestines apart.” A number of the residents and preachers of that district witnessed the affair; some saw the creature alive, others saw it after its death.
Among the notable deaths this year was that of the sultan Berke Khan (4) son of Tushi son of Chinggis Khan (5), a cousin of Hulagu. Berke Khan had embraced Islam, cherished scholars and the righteous, and one of his greatest deeds was his defeat of Hulagu and the dispersal of his army. He maintained cordial relations with Sultan al-Zahir, held him in esteem, honored his envoys, and bestowed generous gifts upon them. After him, power passed to a member of his household—Mankutamur son of Tughan son of Babu (6) son of Tolui son of Chinggis Khan—who followed his course and conduct, praise be to Allah.
Also deceased was the chief qadi (7) of Egypt, Taj al-Din ʿAbd al-Wahhab ibn Khalaf ibn Maḥmūd ibn Badr ibn Bint al-Aʿazz.