Basra, where they killed and carried off captives (1). The Qāʾim (2), the ʿUbaydid, seized Alexandria for a second time, but he fell ill and an epidemic swept through his troops (3).

In 308 AH a crowd of ten thousand rabble rose up in Baghdad. They broke open the prisons, fought the vizier and the provincial commanders, and the fighting raged for several days. Many were killed, people’s property was plundered, the caliphate’s affairs were thrown into grave disorder, and the public treasuries were virtually wiped out (4).

The Berber peril intensified; they all but took possession of the province of Egypt, and the populace broke out in tears. Then the Muslims routed them, and Thamal (5) the eunuch sailed from Tarsus and retook Alexandria from the Berbers by sea (6).

In 309 AH al-Ḥallāj was executed on the charge of heresy (7).

In 311 AH Ḥāmid was deposed and destroyed, and Ibn al-Furāt held the vizierate for the third time (8).

In 312 AH the Qarmaṭians attacked the Iraqi caravan. Among their captives was Abū al-Hayjāʾ (9) ibn Ḥamdān, the maternal uncle of the Lady, the mother of the caliph (10).