the policing of Kūfa (aḥdāth), Isḥāq ibn al-Ṣabāḥ al-Kindī; over its land-tax (kharāj), Thābit ibn Mūsā; and over its judiciary, Sharīk ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Nakhaʿī. Over the policing of Basra was ʿImārah ibn Ḥamzah; over the conduct of prayer there, ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Ayyūb ibn Ẓabiyān al-Namrī; and over its judiciary, ʿUbayd Allāh ibn al-Ḥasan al-ʿAnbarī.
Deaths recorded that year:
• ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Abī Rawwād;
• ʿIkrimah ibn ʿAmmār;
• Mālik ibn Mighwal; and
• Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Dhīb al-Madanī, a jurist considered the peer of Mālik ibn Anas. He would at times take exception to Mālik’s views, declining to act on certain ḥadīths that Mālik treated as reflecting the consensus of the people of Medina, and he differed with him on other questions as well.
[Then the year 160 AH began]
In this year a man in Khurasan rebelled against al-Mahdī, denouncing his conduct, his policies, and his pursuits. He was called Yūsuf al-Barm, and a great multitude rallied to him. The matter swelled and the danger grew grave, so al-Mahdī dispatched Yazīd ibn Mazyad against him. The two met and fought a fierce battle until they closed with one another and grappled. Yazīd ibn Mazyad captured Yūsuf together with a number of his followers and sent them to al-Mahdī. They were brought before the Caliph mounted on camels, their faces turned toward the animals’ tails. The Caliph ordered Harthamah to cut off Yūsuf’s hands and feet, then to strike off his head and the heads of those with him, and to crucify them on the great bridge over the Tigris nearest the Caliph’s camp. Thus Allah extinguished their blaze (1) and spared the people their evil.
Account of the pledge of allegiance to Mūsā al-Hādī and Hārūn al-Rashīd
We have already noted that al-Mahdī persistently urged ʿĪsā ibn Mūsā to abdicate, yet he consistently refused while residing in Kūfa. Al-Mahdī therefore sent one of his senior commanders—Abū Hurayrah Muḥammad ibn Farrūkh—at the head of one thousand men to bring him. He ordered each soldier to carry a drum, and when they reached the outskirts of Kūfa at daybreak, each was to beat his drum. They did so, and Kūfa quaked. ʿĪsā ibn Mūsā was overcome with fear. When they reached him they summoned him to the Caliph’s presence; he feigned illness, but they refused to accept this and took him along with them. They brought him before the Caliph in