and the Prophet’s Household and I hold, or according to what others relate from the Household?”

The man replied, “I would like both.”

He said, “According to what I and they hold, the divorce is final; she is unlawful for you until she marries another husband.”

Al-Tanūkhī adds: Abū ʿAbd Allāh remained in Baghdad, and a group pledged allegiance to him as Imām, yet he could not launch an uprising. In 353 AH Muʿizz al-Dawlah set out for Mosul to wage war against Ibn Ḥamdān. Abū ʿAbd Allāh seized the opportunity: one day he rode to ʿIzz al-Dawlah, and in his audience he was publicly rebuked—on account of a dispute between two nobles—with a thoroughgoing denunciation of his conduct. Offended, he left in anger.

He then put his affairs in order, stationed mounted men outside Baghdad, pretended to be ill, and barred visitors. After that he slipped away in secret with his eldest son, wearing a woollen cloak and carrying a Qurʾan and a sword on his chest. He reached Hawsam (1) in Daylamite territory, where the Daylamites obeyed him. His speech was in their non-Arabic tongue—his mother was one of them—and he adopted the title “al-Mahdī.”

His banners were of white silk bearing the words “There is no god but Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah,” with green pennons. He established justice, lived austerely, and was content with bare subsistence. It is reported that he told his commanders, “You see the state we are in; whenever I change or hoard a single dirham, you are released from your allegiance to me.”

He would preach and teach them, urge them to jihad, and write to the provinces asking them to pledge allegiance to him. He corresponded with Rukn al-Dawlah and Muʿizz al-Dawlah about this; Rukn al-Dawlah acknowledged his imamate but excused himself from assisting him. He never assumed the title “Commander of the Faithful,” but only “the Imām al-Mahdī.”

I say: he refrained from invoking Allah’s mercy upon Muʿāwiyah—may Allah be pleased with him—yet he did not revile the Companions.