—among the common folk I have already put the sword to them.”

Yūsuf replied, “And what will you do about the ʿAlids who have risen against you in every region? If the people hear such praise of them, they will lean toward them all the more and speak out with greater boldness.”

So al-Muʿtaḍid let the matter drop.

The caliph then invested his son ʿAlī al-Muktafī, who led the congregation in prayer on the Day of Sacrifice (1).

In the year 286 AH al-Muʿtaḍid marched with his armies and laid siege to Amid (2), where Ibn al-Shaykh had rebelled. Ibn al-Shaykh asked for safe-conduct, which the caliph granted. Mid-year the tribute from al-Ṣaffār arrived—four million dirhams.

That same year al-Ṣaffār fought Ibn Asad, the ruler of Samarkand. After several engagements Ibn Asad captured al-Ṣaffār alive, treated him kindly, and honored him. Envoys from al-Muʿtaḍid urged that he be forwarded to Baghdad; he was sent on and entered the city a prisoner, riding a camel. He was then consigned to prison after having ruled the Persian domains for twenty years.

As for his beginnings: he and his brother Yaʿqūb had been coppersmiths. Some say ʿAmr used to hire out donkeys and remained a muleteer until his brother’s fortunes soared; he then left the donkeys and joined him. Al-Ṣaffār would boast, “Had I wished, I could have built a bridge of gold across the Jayḥūn River. My kitchen alone was carried on six hundred camels, and I rode at the head of one hundred thousand men—yet time has reduced me to shackles and disgrace.” It is said he was strangled upon the death of al-Muʿtaḍid.

Al-Muʿtaḍid built a wall around Basra and fortified it.

Around the same time, in Bahrain, the Qarmaṭian leader Abū Saʿīd al-Janābī emerged and his following grew large.