and two hundred; and he lived for twenty-three years ⦗1⦘.

When he assumed authority, he conferred the royal robe upon Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṭāhir and girded him with two swords. Waṣīf and Bughā, however, remained apprehensive of Ibn Ṭāhir until al-Muʿtazz was reconciled with them and restored them to their former rank. He likewise bestowed the robe of sovereignty upon his brother Abū Aḥmad, crowned and endorsed him, and hung two swords on him. He appointed al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad ibn Abī al-Shawārib al-Umawī to the judiciary. The stipends of the Muslim army were calculated, amounting that year to two hundred million dirhams. Al-Muʿtazz then arrested his brother Abū Aḥmad, but later released him after having oppressed him.

Yaʿqūb ibn al-Layth al-Ṣaffār gained control of Khurāsān, taking Herat and other towns.

In the land of al-Kurj, the commander ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Abī Dulaf rebelled; Mūsā ibn Bughā confronted him, a great battle was fought, and Waṣīf, one of the leading emirs, was killed.

In Egypt its governor Muzāḥim ibn Khāqān died.

That same year saw the first appearance of the malicious leader of the Zanj. He sacked Baṣra and falsely claimed to be an Alid.

Also in that year Yaʿqūb al-Ṣaffār met Ṭawq ibn al-Mughlis, governor of Kirmān, and captured him.

ʿAlī ibn Quraysh renounced obedience to the caliph, then wrote to al-Muʿtazz requesting the governorship of Khurāsān, saying that the Ṭāhirids were too weak to fight al-Ṣaffār. The caliph granted him that province, yet sent a similar decree to al-Ṣaffār, hoping to foment strife between them and keep them occupied with each other. Al-Ṣaffār captured Thābit ibn Quraysh—who is Ṭawq—then seized Shīrāz. He later encountered Ibn Quraysh again; al-Ṣaffār triumphed, the provinces submitted to him, and he captured Ibn Quraysh and dispatched