Imad al-Din al-Isfahani

Abu 'Abdallah Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Hamid, 'Imad al-Din the katib of Isfahan; secretary to Sultan Nur al-Din Mahmud, then to Sultan Salah al-Din. ¹

He wrote al-Barq al-Shami on his move from Iraq to Syria, his service of the two sultans and some of the conquests — so named because he likened his times to a flashing lightning for their sweetness and swift passing — al-Fath al-Qussi on the conquest of Jerusalem in two volumes, al-Saml 'ala'l-Dhayl continuing al-Sam'ani's continuation of Tarikh Baghdad, Kharidat al-Qasr, and Nusrat al-Fatra wa-'Usrat al-Fitra on the disarray of the Seljuk state; he also left a diwan of epistles and a diwan of poetry in four volumes; when Salah al-Din died his affairs fell into disorder — he withdrew and devoted himself to writing. ¹