goodwill (1).

Tuzun then returned to Wāsiṭ, confiscated the property of al-Muttaqī and his vizier, and sent robes of honor to Aḥmad ibn Būyah. He appointed one vizier after another, only to dismiss each in turn.

Thus the vizierate lost its standing, and the Abbasid caliphate itself grew feeble.

When this reached al-Nāṣir li-Dīn Allāh of the Marwānid house, ruler of al-Andalus (2), he said, “I have a stronger claim to the office of Commander of the Faithful,” and adopted the title. Until then he, like his forefathers, had been styled simply “the emir.”

Al-Muttaqī set out for Tikrit, his followers melted away, and Tuzun advanced and occupied Baghdad. Nāṣir al-Dawla came up with a large host of Arabs and Kurds; Tuzun met him at ʿUkbarā and they fought for several days. The Ḥamdānids were routed, and the caliph withdrew to Mosul. They clashed again on his behalf (3); Sayf al-Dawla and the caliph were defeated and fled to Naṣībīn, with Tuzun in pursuit (4).

As for Aḥmad ibn Būyah (5), he advanced and camped at Wāsiṭ, intending to march on Baghdad (6). Tuzun now sought a settlement.

In 332 AH Abū ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Barīdī killed his brother Abū Yūsuf, and he himself died shortly thereafter (7).

Al-Muttaqī wrote to the Egyptian ruler al-Ikhshīd, summoning him; so he set out