Ḥakím-i-Mawṣilí was one of the order of Astrologers in Níshápúr, and was in the service of that great Minister Nidhámu'l-Mulk of Ṭús, who used to consult with him on matters of importance, and seek his advice and opinion. Now when Mawṣilí's years were drawing to a close, and great decrepitude appeared in him, and feebleness of body began to show itself, so that he was no longer able to perform these long journeys, he asked the Minister's permission to go and reside at Níshápúr, and to send thence annually the almanac and forecast for the year.
Now the Minister Nidhámu'l-Mulk was also in the decline of life and near the term of existence; and he said: “Look so much at the lapse of my life as to observe when the dissolution of my elemental nature will occur, and at what epoch that inevitable fate and unavoidable sentence will befal.”
Ḥakím-i-Mawṣilí answered, “Six months after my death.” So the Minister ordered him to receive all things needful for his comfort, and Mawṣili went to Níshápúr, and there abode in ease, sending each year the forecast and calendar. And whoever came to the Minister from Níshápúr, he used first to enquire, “How is Mawṣilí?” And so soon as he had news of his safety, he would become joyous and cheerful.
At length, in the year A.H. 485 (=A.D. 1092-3), one arrived from Níshápúr, and the Minister enquired of him concerning Mawṣilí. The man replied, with an obeisance: “May he who holdeth the chief seat in al-Islám be the heir of many lifetimes! Mawṣilí hath quitted this mortal body.” “When?” enquired the Minister. “In the middle of Rabí' the First” (April 11-May 11, A.D. 1092), answered the man, “he yielded up his life for him who sitteth in the chief seat of al-Islám.”
The Minister thereat was mightily put about, and was warned, and looked into all his affairs, and confirmed all his pious endowments, and gave effect to his bequests,*
and wrote his last testament, and set free such of his slaves as had earned his approval, and discharged the debts which he owed, and, so far as lay in his power, made all men content with him, and sought forgiveness from his adversaries, and made his will, and so sat awaiting his fate until the month of Ramaḍán (A.H. 485=Oct. 5-Nov. 4, A.D. 1092), when he fell a martyr at the hands of that Sect (i.e. the Assassins); may God make illustrious his Proof, and accord him an ample Approval!
Since the Ascendant ruling his nativity, the observation, the Lord of the Sign, and the dominant factor were rightly determined, and the Astrologer was expert and accomplished, naturally the prognostication came true.*