That same year al-Muʿtaḍid put his uncle Muḥammad to death when word reached him that the man was corresponding with Khumarawayh.
In 283 AH al-Muʿtaḍid marched on Mosul because of Hārūn al-Shāri (1), who had been marauding and spreading disorder for a long time. Al-Ḥusayn ibn Ḥamdān said to the caliph, “If I bring him to you, I have three requests.”
“State them,” the caliph replied.
“First, you must release my father; the other two I shall mention once I have delivered him.”
“You have my word,” al-Muʿtaḍid said.
“I should also like to choose three hundred picked fighters.”
“Granted.”
Al-Ḥusayn then set out in pursuit of Hārūn. He hemmed him in at a river ford, they clashed, and Hārūn’s forces were routed. Hārūn hid, but some Bedouins pointed him out; al-Ḥusayn captured him and brought him to the caliph. Al-Muʿtaḍid dressed al-Ḥusayn in robes of honor, hung a ceremonial collar and armlets on him, and ordered general festivities. Hārūn himself was paraded on an elephant, and the crowd was so dense that one of the piers of the Baghdad bridge collapsed and many people drowned. At that time the gifts sent by al-Ṣaffār also arrived—two hundred pack-loads of treasure—and circulars were dispatched to the provinces announcing that collateral relatives (dhawu al-arḥām) would henceforth inherit.
In that same year Rāfiʿ ibn Harthama (2) seized Nishapur and had the sermon there delivered in the name of Muḥammad ibn Zayd the ʿAlid. Al-Ṣaffār advanced, besieged the city, met Rāfiʿ in battle, defeated him, pursued him to Khwarazm, captured and killed him, and sent his head to al-Muʿtaḍid. Rāfiʿ was in fact not the son of Harthama ibn Aʿyan but only his stepson.
Ibn Jarīr relates: In 284 AH al-Muʿtaḍid resolved to have Muʿāwiyah publicly cursed from the pulpits. The vizier tried to dissuade him, but he paid no heed. He blocked every occasion for the Shiʿah and the Prophet’s family to gather and forbade the popular storytellers to speak at all. The people assembled on Friday to hear the decree—drafted by the vizier—read aloud. Thereupon Yūsuf the Judge said, “Go back and consult the Commander of the Faithful.”
He went and said, “O Commander of the Faithful, do you fear civil strife?” The caliph replied, “If it should begin to stir—"