Sharaf al-Din Abu Nasr al-Kashani

Sharaf al-Din Abu Nasr al-Kashani was treasurer and 'arid al-jaysh (inspector of the army) to the Saljuq sultan Muhammad ibn Malikshah. He was succeeded in the army post by Shams al-Mulk, son of Nizam al-Mulk, and went to Baghdad. He was briefly imprisoned under Mahmud ibn Malikshah, but was then appointed vizier by Mahmud (521/1127-522/1128). From 526/1132 to 528/1134 he was vizier to the caliph al-Mustarshid, and in 529/1134 vizier to Mas'ud ibn Muhammad, a post he held until 530/1135-1136. ¹

He died in Baghdad, in 533/1138-1139 according to Ibn al-Athir, or in 532/1137-1138 according to Hindu Shah. He wrote a work in Persian on the events of his time, titled Futur zaman al-sudur wa sudur zaman al-fulur, which 'Imad al-Din translated into Arabic; al-Bundari's abridgement of the translation was edited by Houtsma. A work called Nafthat al-masdur is probably the same book. Several poets of his time praised him, and he encouraged al-Hariri to write his Maqamat. ¹