Yaʿqūb then overpowered Herat and Pushang, fought the Turks, captured Rutbīl and killed him, slew three other kings, and returned with thousands of severed heads; hence other rulers stood in dread of him.

A stitched sword-wound ran across his face.

He sent a gift to the caliph al-Muʿtazz that included a silver model mosque large enough to hold fifteen worshippers, borne on a string of camels. He later fought the governor of Fars, defeated him, and put his men to the sword.

The pious wrote to him, censuring his haste in shedding blood. In response he besieged them, seized Shiraz, guaranteed the populace safety, but took from its governor four hundred badrah (sealed sacks of coin) and tortured him. He then returned to Sijistān and exacted the revenues.

Each year he forwarded to al-Muʿtamid five million dirhams, and al-Muʿtamid was content to placate him.

Subsequently he captured Balkh and Nishapur, took their governor Ibn Ṭāhir prisoner along with sixty members of his family, and marched on Jurjān. There he routed the usurper al-Ḥasan ibn Zayd the ʿAlid, seized three hundred camel-loads of wealth, and occupied Āmul. The ʿAlid soon confronted him again and routed Yaʿqūb, yet Yaʿqūb entered Jurjān, where he oppressed the people; an earthquake then struck, killing two thousand of his troops.

A group of Jurjānians appealed to Baghdad for deliverance from Yaʿqūb. Al-Muʿtamid therefore resolved to wage war on him, dispatching letters to the notables of Khurāsān condemning Yaʿqūb and urging them to work for his elimination. Yaʿqūb wrote back in submissive, evasive terms, requesting formal investiture over the eastern provinces; al-Muʿtamid and his brother al-Muwaffaq agreed, being preoccupied with the Zanj rebellion.

Yaʿqūb then advanced with the aim of taking Iraq. Al-Muʿtamid came forth, and the two armies met at Dayr al-ʿAqūl (1). Al-Muwaffaq lifted his helmet, charged, and cried, “I am the Hāshimī youth!”