In that same year Atsiz the Khwarazmian (1) seized control of Syria; he introduced unlawful innovations, spread corruption, and burdened the populace.

In 465 AH the Sultan Alp Arslan was killed.

During that year the Egyptian army fell into dissension and fought one another repeatedly; the Turks gained the upper hand, many of Egypt’s Arabs were slain, al-Mustanṣir’s dast (2)––his ceremonial throne––was dismantled, he tasted humiliation and want, and Nāṣir al-Dawla al-Ḥamdānī intensified the insults he heaped upon him and rose in stature. Disturbing events followed (3).

In 466 AH Baghdad was flooded; the Friday prayer was held twice aboard boats, and uncounted multitudes perished—people said the water reached thirty cubits.

Sibt Ibn al-Jawzī remarked that one hundred thousand houses collapsed, leaving Baghdad “a single flattened plain” (4).

In 467 AH (5) al-Mustanṣir summoned Badr al-Jamālī (6) from the Syrian coast to relieve him. Badr sailed from Acre in the depth of winter, braved the seas, and burst into Egypt unannounced. Al-Mustanṣir appointed him Commander of the Armies. That very night he dispatched detachments to every senior emir; they returned with each man’s head and took their wealth to al-Mustanṣir’s palace, whereupon his fortunes brightened.

Badr then marched on Alexandria, besieged it for a time, captured it, and killed a number of those who had taken power there. He moved on to Damietta and did the same, then advanced to Upper Egypt where, over three days, he killed twelve thousand people, plundered, and committed further outrages. Sixty thousand horse and foot rallied against him in Upper Egypt; he attacked them at night, routed them, slew many, an equal number drowned, and their property was seized as booty.

They confronted him again, but he defeated them once more. That year a fire of unparalleled scale broke out in Baghdad and vast amounts of wealth were lost.