Indeed, your separation has worn me out—like the weariness of a traveller who presses on in the blazing noonday heat. (1)

It is related that a document was brought to al-Muʿizz in Egypt (2) containing the testimony of their ancestor ʿUbayd Allah written at Salamiyyah, and in it appeared the line: “Written by ʿUbayd Allah b. Muḥammad b. ʿAbd Allah al-Bāhilī.” Al-Muʿizz remarked, “Yes, this is the attestation of our forefather.” By the term “al-Bāhilī” he meant that the writer belonged to the People of the Mutual Imprecation (ahl al-mubāhala), (3) not that he was from the tribe of Bāhila. (4)

I say: In those days rafḍ (Shiʿite rejectionism) emerged openly, baring its face and lifting its head in Egypt, Syria, the Ḥijāz and the Maghrib under the ʿUbaydid (Fatimid) regime, and in Iraq, the Jazīrah and the Persian lands under the Buyids. The caliph al-Muṭīʿ possessed little authority or standing in the shadow of the Buyids; his body weakened, paralysis struck him and he lost the power of speech, so they deposed him and installed his son al-Ṭāʾiʿ li-llāh. To the latter belonged the minting of coin and the mention in the khuṭbah, together with a few residual affairs. Thus, the dominion of this al-Muʿizz was stronger and more firmly grounded; likewise, the realm of the Andalusian ruler al-Mustanṣir billāh al-Marwānī was stable and independent, as it had been under his father al-Nāṣir li-Dīn Allāh, who ruled for fifty years. The call to prayer in Syria and Egypt was even proclaimed with the phrase “ḥayya ʿalā khayri l-ʿamal.” To Allah belongs the entire command. (5)

It was said: Nothing was known of al-Muʿizz except his inclination toward Shiʿism; he would prolong the prayer, and his son died before him.