They severed his hands, split open his belly, wrapped him in his own cloak, and carried him to Ibn Dawwās; they also killed the boy. Ibn Dawwās then brought the body to his sister, who buried it in a reception room, keeping the matter secret.⦗1⦘

She summoned the vizier, bound him to secrecy, and ordered him to send an urgent summons for the heir-apparent ʿAbd al-Raḥīm, who was in Damascus. At the same time she dispatched an emir along the road to seize ʿAbd al-Raḥīm and hold him at Tinnīs. Al-Ḥākim had now disappeared; the populace were in uproar and headed for the mountain, but found no trace of him.

Another account says they did find his grey mule—named "Qamar"—its hocks hamstrung, and his cloak drenched in blood.⦗2⦘

Yet another report relates that his sister said, “He told me he would remain hidden in the mountain for a week.” She therefore arranged relay riders who would go and return, saying, “We left him at such-and-such a place and he promised to meet us on such-and-such a day.”

Sitt al-Mulk now began summoning the emirs, placing them under oath and distributing gold among them. She dressed ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥākim in the finest garments and said to Ibn Dawwās, “The continuance of his reign depends on you.” He kissed the ground. She then presented the boy publicly and bestowed upon him the title al-Ẓāhir li-Iʿzāz Dīn Allāh.

She set on his head the crown of her grandfather al-Muʿizz, observed three days of mourning for al-Ḥākim, fixed court protocol exactly as she wished, and showed extraordinary honour to Ibn Dawwās—only to place a hundred men in the vestibule who cut him down. She also executed a number of people who had discovered her secret, and her awe in the eyes of men increased. She died three years later.⦗3⦘

We have mentioned in his biography⦗4⦘ that he left the palace, made his nightly rounds, and at dawn set out toward the eastern side of Ḥulwān with two outriders. He sent one of them back along with nine Bedouins, then ordered the other to depart; that man claimed that he last saw him at the Maqṣabah.⦗5⦘ That was the last anyone ever saw of him