so that they could draw near to him and strike him down. Yet his own skiff pushed off first, outstripping theirs, and their plot escaped his notice.

The vizier ʿAlī ibn ʿĪsā kept warning him that he would be killed, and the vizier Ibn al-Furāt also spoke to him about the danger, but he belittled their words, refused every counsel, and relied on the awe he inspired. They cautioned him especially against Ibn Ḥamdān; he replied, “After Allah, I count on no one but him to ward off what I fear.”

A pride that had never been there before now took hold of him. He would ride all the way to Bab ʿAmmār while the commanders and dignitaries had to walk, and he never ordered mounts to be brought for them—though the distance was considerable. He fortified his residence, decorated it, and named it Dar al-Surūr (the House of Delight).

Then, in Jumada I of the year 296 AH, al-Muqtadir went out, and the vizier returned home. Some of those bent on assassinating him walked before and behind him. Ibn Ḥamdān drew his sword and struck the vizier. Fātik al-Muʿtaḍidī shouted, “What is this, you dogs?!” Waṣīf ibn Suwartikīn then struck Ibn Ḥamdān and killed him, and Ibn Kayghalgh dealt a blow to Ibn Ḥamdān’s son Aḥmad, wounding his face. The vizier hastily threw himself into a garden, where ʿAbd al-Ghaffār followed him and finished him off.

His chamberlain Manṣūr galloped away, caught up with al-Muqtadir, and informed him. Ṣāfī gave him passage into the hippodrome, and the army moved around its walls. The men who had attacked al-ʿAbbās assembled, entered Baghdad, and went straight to the house of Muḥammad ibn Dāwud ibn al-Jarrāḥ. He mounted with them, and they seated him on the vizier’s chair.

Ibn al-Muʿtazz arrived, everyone welcomed him, and they greeted him as caliph. They escorted him to the house of Sulaymān ibn Wahb at sunset. The troops plundered al-ʿAbbās’s house and set it ablaze. Ibn al-Jarrāḥ took the oath of allegiance, letters to the provincial governors were drafted throughout the night, and at dawn Ibn al-Muʿtazz led them in prayer. The judges and leading men came to him, and they sent word to al-Muqtadir: “Al-Murtadā bi-llāh, Commander of the Faithful, has granted you safe-conduct and orders you to remain in the house of Ibn Ṭāhir with your mother and your slave-girls.”

A messenger, a palace eunuch from al-Muqtadir, then arrived and said, “Peace be upon you.”

Ibn al-Jarrāḥ and the commanders shouted at him, “Salute the Commander of the Faithful!”

He replied, “I am only a messenger; if you will listen—otherwise…"