He could no longer withstand the Qarmatians, so Yaḥyā was killed during the siege and, after him, his brother al-Ḥusayn took command. Al-Muktafī marched with his armies toward Mosul, while Abū al-Agharr went on ahead as far as Aleppo. The Qarmaṭian launched a night attack, killing nine thousand Muslims. Al-Muktafī then reached al-Raqqa, and the affliction caused by the Qarmatians grew even worse. The army eventually struck them, whereupon they fled into the desert, ravaging and plundering. Al-Ḥusayn ibn Ḥamdān and several other commanders pursued them, driving them back. The slain Yaḥyā had claimed to be a Ḥusaynid—one of the Prophet’s descendants through al-Ḥusayn.
A Berber hurled a spear at him, and afterwards his brother al-Ḥusayn, known as Ṣāḥib al-Shāmah (“the Man with the Mole”), was also killed (1).
In the year 291 AH al-Muktafī married his son to the vizier’s daughter for a dower of one hundred thousand dinars, and on that same day the vizier bestowed four hundred robes of honour upon the leading dignitaries.
That year as well, large contingents of Turks advanced, but the governor of Khurasan, Ismāʿīl, surprised them at night and inflicted a severe slaughter. The Byzantines likewise came with one hundred thousand men and marched to al-Ḥadath (2).
(1) Ibn al-Athir, Al-Kamil, 7:523-526, 530-532; Akhbar sanati, pp. 290-291; Ibn Kathir, Al-Bidaya wa-l-nihaya, 11:96; the author’s Ibar, 2:84; al-Dhahabi, Shadharat al-dhahab, 2:202.
(2) Al-Hadath was a strong frontier fortress in Bilad al-Sham, also called al-Hamra (“the Red One”) because all its soil is red; its citadel stands on a mountain known as al-Uhaydib. It witnessed several clashes between the Muslim Arabs and the Byzantines, including the campaign led by Sayf al-Dawla al-Hamdani in 343 AH/954 CE, which al-Mutanabbi immortalised in a long ode that begins:
‘ala qadar ahli al-azm taʾti al-ʿazaʾimu / wa taʾti ʿala qadar al-kirami al-makarimu
“In proportion to men of resolve come resolute deeds; and in proportion to noble men come noble favours.”
Among its verses:
hal al-Hadathu al-Hamra taʿrifu lawnaha / wa taʿlamu ayya al-saqiyayni al-ghamaʾimu
“Does al-Hadath the Red know its own colour and realise which of the two ‘waters’ the clouds provided?”
saqatha al-ghamamu al-ghurru qabla nuzulihi / falamma dana minha saqatha al-jamajimu
“The bright clouds had watered her before the army arrived, but when it drew near she was watered by skulls.”
He praises Sayf al-Dawla’s courage, saying:
waqafta wa ma fi al-mawti shakkun li-waqifin / ka-annaka fi jufni al-rida wa huwa naʾim
“You stood where death was certain for anyone who stood, as though you were in the eyelid of destruction while it slept.”
tamurru bika al-abtal kulma hazima / wa wajhuka wadduh wa thaghruka basim
“The defeated, wounded heroes pass you by while your face is radiant and your mouth smiling.”
See Diwan al-Mutanabbi, ed. al-Barquqi, 4:94-108.