Indeed, al-Muʿtaṣim ordered that Bābak be mounted on an elephant, dressed in silk brocade and a large sable-fur cap, and paraded through the streets. Then each of his four limbs was severed while he remained silent; after that he was beheaded, and his head was carried in procession around Sāmarrā. His brother was then sent to Baghdad and the same was done to him (1).

It is said that the brother was even braver than Bābak. He told him, “O Bābak, you have accomplished what no one else has ever done—so endure with a patience that no one else has ever shown.” Bābak replied, “You will soon see.”

When they cut off his hand, he smeared his face with its blood. Al-Muʿtaṣim asked, “Why did you do that?” He answered, “You commanded that my extremities be severed and intended not to cauterise them; the blood would flow, my complexion would turn pale, and you would think it was fear on my part.” Al-Muʿtaṣim said, “Had his deeds not barred him from favour and pardon, I would have spared him.” He was then burned (2).

It is also said that he wiped out countless souls from the ummah. In the handwriting of Imām Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ it is recorded that the people killed by Bābak reached one million five hundred thousand (3), whereas the number slain by Abū Muslim al-Khurasānī was two million.

In that same year the Byzantine tyrant met al-Afshīn and was routed—though only after several days. Al-Muʿtaṣim devastated Ankara and dealt a severe blow to the Byzantines. He stormed Amorium (4), spread fear and humiliation among them, and exacted Islam’s revenge on the tyrant Theophilos son of Michael, who had raided Zibatra and Malatya. Al-Muʿtaṣim entered Byzantine territory with two hundred thousand fighting men or more—some even said five hundred thousand—and he resolved to lay siege to Constantinople,