—whereupon he summoned the Turk, sent the woman back to her house, and had the Turk thrust into a sack and beaten until he died. He then said to me, “Denounce every wrong; whatever may happen, give the call to prayer (adhān) just as you did.” I invoked Allah’s blessing for him, and the story spread so widely that from then on, whenever I spoke to anyone on behalf of a litigant, he would obey me and stand in awe. (1)

In that same year there was born in Salamiyah al-Qāʾim Muḥammad ibn al-Mahdī al-ʿUbaydī, the man who—together with his father—would later seize the Maghrib.

That year as well, the ruler of Transoxiana, Ismāʿīl ibn Aḥmad ibn Asad, campaigned against the Turkish lands: he captured their king along with some ten thousand men, while about the same number were slain. Debal (2) was struck by an earthquake; most of the city collapsed and nearly thirty thousand people perished. The shocks continued, and the total death toll exceeded one hundred thousand. The Muslims also raided Byzantine territory and captured the fortress of Malūriyah. (3)

In 281 AH the waters of Ṭabarestān receded so drastically that water sold at three ratls for a single dirham; famine set in and the people were reduced to eating carrion.

In that year al-Muʿtaḍid marched toward Dīnawar and then withdrew. He next advanced on Mosul to fight Ḥamdān ibn Ḥamdūn, the progenitor of the Banū Ḥamdān. The Bedouin Arabs and the Kurds had formed an alliance and come out to battle; al-Muʿtaḍid met them, routed them, and most of them drowned while fleeing. Then