horsemen, and he laid siege to Mosul for eighty days. Zangi, the city’s governor, offered him money to make him withdraw, but he refused. In the end he did break camp, and his awe only grew in people’s hearts. Zangi humbled himself, forwarding the entire tribute to al-Mustarshid. The envoy of Sultan Sanjar then arrived and was honored. Al-Mustarshid dispatched to Sanjar the robe of sultanate, valued at one hundred and twenty thousand dinars, and reviewed his troops in a display the like of which had not been witnessed for ages; they numbered fifteen thousand.

Masʿūd left Baghdad in anger, and Dubays joined him; together they resolved to seize the city. Al-Mustarshid summoned Zangi ibn Aq-Sunqur—who at the time was besieging Damascus—and also called for Bakbah, the deputy of Basra. Masʿūd launched a night attack on al-Mustarshid’s advance guard, routing them; nonetheless, four emirs defected to the caliph, and he rewarded them with eighty thousand dinars. He then set out with seven thousand men, and the decisive battle took place in Ramadan of the year 529 AH, as we have noted. The caliph’s army was broken and they handed him over; Masʿūd captured him with a measure of respect and appropriated his treasury, which amounted to four million dinars. Only five men were killed. The sultan then forged letters in the caliph’s name to Baghdad, writing whatever he pleased. The people of Baghdad rose up in defense of their caliph—for he was greatly loved by the populace—and they took the sword to the sultan’s troops, killing one hundred and fifty commoners. The populace stood on the brink of catastrophe (1). When al-Mustarshid was killed, his son al-Rāshid bi-Allāh was proclaimed caliph in Baghdad.

326 – Al-Rāshid bi-Allāh Manṣūr ibn al-Mustarshid bi-Allāh
The Commander of the Believers, Abū Jaʿfar Manṣūr, son of al-Mustarshid bi-Allāh al-Faḍl ibn Aḥmad al-ʿAbbāsī.