and the moment the emir stepped outside they killed him and returned with his head. By dawn the city had been pacified: he had secured everyone’s property and transferred it to the palace.

He then marched on Damietta, restored order there, and executed those who had taken control of it. Next he besieged Alexandria, stormed it by the sword, and killed many of its inhabitants; in Upper Egypt he slew twelve thousand men. He captured twenty thousand women and fifteen thousand horses. The rebels gathered again to fight him—now sixty thousand strong—so he advanced, surprised them in the dead of night, slew multitudes, drowned multitudes, and plundered their baggage. He later engaged them in another pitched battle and subdued them. After that he rebuilt the provinces, treated the populace kindly, and remitted the land-tax for three years, until the country recovered from its devastation.⦗1⦘

In that same year al-Qāʾim died and his grandson al-Muqtadī received the oath of allegiance.⦗2⦘ The Friday sermon in Mecca was once more delivered in the name of al-Mustanṣir,⦗3⦘ and the Arabs of Ifrīqiyah fell into dispute and fought among themselves for a time.⦗4⦘

In 468 AH a severe drought struck Syria, and Atsiz the Khwārazmian laid siege to Damascus. Its emir al-Muʿallā ibn Ḥaydarah—an overbearing tyrant⦗5⦘—fled, whereupon Atsiz appointed Razīn al-Dawlah Intiṣār al-Maṣmūdī in his place.⦗6⦘ Atsiz then seized Damascus, reinstated the Abbasid khutbah, and the Egyptians grew fearful of him.⦗7⦘ In 469 AH he marched against them, besieged them, and was on the verge of taking the city; the people therefore implored God in the presence of the preacher al-Jawharī,