Afshin said, “This man is making accusations against my brother. Even if I had written such a letter to him only to deceive him, that would not be out of the ordinary, and I would have taken him by the throat.”
Ibn Abī Dāwūd rebuked him and asked, “Are you still uncircumcised?”
“No,” Afshin replied.
“Why not?”
“I was afraid of being harmed.”
“You go into battle,” Ibn Abī Dāwūd retorted, “yet you are frightened by the removal of a piece of foreskin?”
Afshin answered, “Fighting is a necessity I can endure; that foreskin does not drive me out of Islam.”
Ahmad then said, “His affair is now clear to you all. (1)
In that same year most of al-Ahwaz collapsed because of an earthquake that lasted for several days. (2)
In the year six, hailstones the size of eggs fell from the sky, killing three hundred and seventy people.
The aforementioned Afshin was denied food until he died; his corpse was then crucified and burned together with the idols he kept. A descendant of the Sasanian kings, he had been the most powerful figure in the state. (3)
As for Māzyār—whose name was Muḥammad ibn Qārin—he was an oppressive, tyrannical ruler. He rose in Tabaristan and fought al-Muʿtaṣim’s army, but was captured, beaten to death, and crucified, leaving behind incalculable wealth. (4)
In the year 227 AH, Abū Ḥarb al-Mubarraqʿ appeared in Palestine, claiming that he—