and he fled. Toghril Beg arrived in 447 AH, while al-Basāsīrī withdrew to al-Raḥbah (1) with a force of soldiers. He wrote to al-Mustanṣir, who sent him money from Egypt. In 449 AH Toghril marched on Nisibis, accompanied by his brother Ināl. Al-Basāsīrī corresponded with Ināl, corrupted him, and stirred his desire for his brother’s post.
Ināl therefore advanced with a large army toward Rayy; his brother followed hard on his heels, and unity collapsed. The two brothers met at Hamadan. Ināl gained the upper hand; Baghdad was thrown into turmoil, plundering erupted, and Toghril’s wife fled with a contingent toward Hamadan.
In Dhū al-Qaʿdah al-Basāsīrī reached al-Anbār. The Friday prayer was suspended. An advance column of his troops entered first; then he himself entered Baghdad beneath Egyptian banners, pitched his pavilion on the Tigris, and was supported by the Shīʿah. He had gathered ruffians and peasants together, luring them with the prospect of loot. Famine grew severe, and they even fought aboard the riverboats.
On the following Friday the ruler of Egypt was named in the sermon at the Manṣūr Mosque, and the call to prayer included the phrase “Come to the best of deeds.” The caliph dug a trench around his palace, but al-Basāsīrī, together with the people of al-Karkh and others, rose to wage war on al-Qāʾim. They fought for two days; the dead were many, the markets were burned, they stormed the palace (2) and plundered it. Al-Qāʾim then sought the protection of the amir Quraysh al-ʿUqaylī (3).
The amir had once sided with al-Basāsīrī, yet he now granted the caliph safety and kissed his hands. Al-Qāʾim rode out, the royal banner before him and the Turks surrounding him, and was lodged in a tent. Al-Basāsīrī thereupon arrested the vizier Abū al-Qāsim ʿAlī ibn al-Muslima, the judge Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Dāmghānī, and a number of others; the vizier was crucified and died (4).