In that same year:

Rāfiʿ Ḍiyāʾ al-Dīn ibn al-Faqāʿī (1) brought a suit against al-Ṣāḥib Bahāʾ al-Dīn ibn al-Ḥannā before Sultan al-Ẓāhir. Ibn al-Ḥannā prevailed, whereupon al-Ẓāhir handed his adversary over to him. He continued flogging him and seizing his assets until the man died. It is said that, before he expired, he had received seventeen thousand seven hundred lashes—Allah knows best.

In that year as well the Parwanah contrived the murder of King ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn (2), lord of Konya, and installed the latter’s ten-year-old son Ghiyāth al-Dīn (3) in his stead. The Parwanah thus gained full control of both land and people, and the Rūm army submitted to him.

During the same year al-Ṣāḥib ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn, head of the dīwān in Baghdad, killed the poet Ibn al-Khashkarī al-Nuʿmānī. Heinous reports had spread about the poet, among them his claim that his verse surpassed the Glorious Quran. It happened that al-Ṣāḥib was travelling to Wāsiṭ; when he reached al-Nuʿmāniyyah, Ibn al-Khashkarī presented himself and recited a poem he had composed in the minister’s praise. While he was reciting, the muʾadhdhin gave the call to prayer, so al-Ṣāḥib asked him to be silent. Ibn al-Khashkarī retorted, “My lord, listen to something new and leave aside what is years old.” This confirmed for al-Ṣāḥib what he had heard about the man. He then conversed with him affably, pretending not to disapprove, until he discovered the truth: the poet was a heretic. When al-Ṣāḥib mounted to depart he said to a companion, “Draw him aside along the road and kill him.” The man rode with Ibn al-Khashkarī until they were out of sight; then he said to those with him, “Pull him from his horse—as though in jest.” They dismounted him while he cursed and reviled them. Next he ordered, “Strip off his clothes,” and they robbed him while he protested, “You are boorish—this is a foolish game!” Finally he said, “Strike off his head,” and one of them stepped forward and with a single sword-stroke severed it.

[In the same year died] Shaykh ʿAfīf al-Dīn Yūsuf ibn al-Baqqāl (4), shaykh of the Ribāṭ al-Marzabāniyya. He was a righteous, devout ascetic. He related of himself:

“I was in Egypt when news reached me of the massive slaughter in Baghdad during the Tatar turmoil. My heart recoiled (5) and I said, ‘O Lord, how can this be when among them are children and others without sin?’ Then I saw in a dream a man holding a book. I took it and read the following verses, which rebuked me for my objection:

Cease your objection—the matter is not yours to command,
Nor do you rule the orbits of the heavenly spheres.
Ask not Allah about what He does;
Whoever plunges into the ocean’s depths will perish.”