He appointed al-Afdal Sulaym ibn Masal (1) as vizier, and the latter governed the realm. The public proclamation on his behalf (1)—and on behalf of his father—was cut off throughout all of Syria, the Maghrib, and the Two Holy Sanctuaries, so that only the province of Egypt remained to them.

Then al-ʿĀdil ibn al-Sallār (3) rebelled against Ibn Masal, fought him, defeated him, wiped him out, and seized absolute power. Ibn Masal had been one of the most eminent emirs, but the forces of Ibn al-Sallār routed him at Dalās (4) and brought his head back impaled on a lance (5).

ʿAlī ibn al-Sallār was counted among the Kurdish commanders and the renowned champions—an upright Sunni Muslim of the Shāfiʿī school; under his rule the blaze of rafḍ (Shiʿite dissent) was extinguished. He had first governed the frontier garrison (6) for a time, showed deference to al-Salafī (7), and endowed for him the ʿĀdilī Madrasa. Yet he was a man of overpowering authority and harshness who arrested people on mere suspicion. On one occasion he drove a mallet and a nail into the skull of al-Muwaffaq, the director of the dīwān, because at the start of his administration the latter had complained to him about a fine that had befallen him during his tenure. Ibn al-Sallār retorted, “Your words do not enter my ear.”

Each time the nail sank into his ear the victim cried for help, and Ibn al-Sallār would ask, “Have my words entered your ear now? (8)”

From Ifrīqiya there arrived ʿAbbās ibn Abī al-Futūḥ (9) ibn al-Malik Yaḥyā ibn Tamīm ibn—