along with his mount—and was taken prisoner. He was brought before Ismaʿil, who embraced him, waited upon him, and said, “I never wished things to come to this.” He then treated him with the utmost respect. ʿAmr said, “Give me your oath that you will not hand me over.” So Ismaʿil swore to him.

Not long after, an envoy from al-Muʿtaḍid arrived bearing the writ of deposition and the patent of appointment for Ismaʿil, and demanding that ʿAmr be surrendered. Ismaʿil replied, “I fear an army may rise up against you to free him, for all the troops of these lands are still in his obedience. He once wrote to me—without even using my honorific, but simply saying, ‘Son of Aḥmad! By Allah, were I to wish to build a bridge of gold across the River Balkh, I could do so and then march against you and seize you.’ I wrote back, ‘Allah will judge between you and me. I am only a frontier man confronting the Turks, dressed in a coarse kurdawāʾī cloak, and my men are khushr (1), without any pay, yet you have wronged me.’”

Nevertheless, he handed ʿAmr over to the envoy and said, “If anyone fights you on his account, slaughter him.”

On the journey ʿAmr spent his days fasting and weeping. He would stick his head out of the litter and say to the passers-by, “My masters, pray that relief come to me!”

He was brought into Baghdad on a bukhtī camel, clad in a brocade cloak and the “hood of wrath.” Al-Muʿtaḍid said to him, “Here is your pledge of allegiance, O ʿAmr!” He then confined him, and al-Qāsim ibn ʿUbayd Allah the vizier put him to death on the very day al-Muʿtaḍid died, 289 AH (2).

His rule had lasted a little over twenty years.

Al-Qushayrī relates that ʿAmr ibn al-Layth was seen (in a dream) and was asked, “What has Allah done with you?” He replied, “One day I stood atop a mountain looking over my armies, and their great numbers pleased me. I wished that I had been present with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ so that I might support and aid him. Allah accepted that wish from me and forgave me.”