for the Abbasids, uprooting the very root of the Banū ʿUbayd and wiping out the Rafidite regime.

They were nothing but fourteen successive pretenders, not caliphs in truth; and in Arabic the word ʿāḍid also means “the one who cuts off,” so this ʿĀḍid cut short the rule of his own household.

Ibn Khallikān relates: A scholar told me that al-ʿĀḍid once dreamed that a scorpion came toward him from a certain mosque famous for such creatures and stung him. When he awoke he summoned an interpreter, who said, “Some harm will befall you ⦗1⦘ at the hands of a man residing in that mosque.” He inquired about the mosque, instructed its governor accordingly, and a poor devotee was brought before him. He asked, “Where are you from, and why have you come?” and found the man truthful and devout. He therefore said, “Pray for us, Shaykh,” set him free, and the man returned to the mosque. When Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn gained mastery over Egypt, he resolved to depose al-ʿĀḍid.

Ibn Khallikān continues: He consulted the jurists, who issued a fatwa permitting his removal because of his doctrinal laxity and reckless conduct. The most forceful among them in that ruling was Shaykh Najm al-Dīn al-Khubūshānī ⦗2⦘, who listed the vices of that faction and declared them bereft of true faith ⦗3⦘.

Abū Shāma ⦗4⦘ says: I met Abū al-Futūḥ, the son of al-ʿĀḍid, while he was imprisoned and in chains. He told me that when his father fell ill, he summoned Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn, who came and had us brought in