— I will leave!”
Ibn al-Muʿtazz said, “Hand it over.”
The messenger announced, “The Commander of the Faithful al-Muqtadir says: Return to your home and preserve your life and blood. I guarantee your safety and will reinstate your land grant, so do not kindle the fire of sedition.”
Ibn al-Muʿtazz then told the servant, “My boy, say to your master: this is my letter to you—read it and carry out what I have ordered in it.”
The servant departed with the letter, and Ibn al-Muʿtazz instructed Ibn Ḥamdān and Ibn ʿAmruwayh to go to al-Muqtadir’s residence. The caliphal mamluks came out, led by Mūnis al-Khādim, Gharīb al-Khāl, and Mūnis al-Khāzin; they distributed money, engaged Ibn al-Muʿtazz’s faction, and the two sides met. Ibn Ḥamdān advanced to the Hippodrome Gate, but the Turks loosed their arrows at him; he wavered and fled. Meanwhile the townspeople pelted Ibn al-Muʿtazz’s supporters from the rooftops. Al-Muqtadir’s men raised their voices, the takbīr (“Allāhu akbar”) rang out, and they made for Ibn al-Muʿtazz. He escaped from the house of Ibn Wahb with a band of followers, heading toward Sāmarrāʾ.
ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Abī Ṭāhir said: “Ibn Ḥamdān struck al-ʿAbbās, splitting the crown of his head; then he hit him again and he fell, after which they hacked him to pieces.”
It was also said that al-ʿAbbās’s own slave charged at Ibn Ḥamdān, but Ibn Ḥamdān pointed to a signet on his finger and declared, “This is the ring of the Commander of the Faithful; he ordered me to kill al-ʿAbbās.” The slave then withdrew.
Al-ʿAbbās’s vizierate lasted four and a half years, and he lived a little over forty years.
I (the author) say: Thereafter al-Muqtadir’s rule stabilized. He arrested a number of people and they were put to death; he pardoned al-Ḥusayn ibn Ḥamdān, reinstated Ibn al-Furāt as vizier, and Ibn al-Muʿtazz was killed.
- al-Ghazzī al-Ḥasan ibn al-Faraj*
Al-Ghazzī, the traditionist.