In 1271, Kublai Khan dispatched envoys to obtain persons skilled in the management of mangonels from his kinsman Abaqa, the Ilkhan in Persia. The latter sent Al al-Din and Ismail, together with their families, by post route to Hangzhou, where they began by building large mangonels which they erected in front of the city gates. In 1273 he served at the Siege of Xiangyang.