his audience hall on Thursday, the third of Muḥarram that year. The leading men of the Banū Hāshim, the judges, and the dignitaries gathered around him and urged him to abdicate, but he refused. They persisted—alternating persuasion with intimidation—until, on Wednesday (1), the fourth of Muḥarram, after the ʿAṣr prayer, he finally yielded. On the following Thursday morning, with three days of Muḥarram remaining, the oath of allegiance was sworn to al-Mahdī’s two sons, Mūsā and Hārūn al-Rashīd. Al-Mahdī then sat beneath a great domed pavilion in the palace audience-hall. The commanders entered and pledged their allegiance; after that he rose, mounted the pulpit, and seated his son Mūsā al-Hādī just below him, while ʿĪsā ibn Mūsā stood on the first step. Al-Mahdī addressed the people, announcing that ʿĪsā ibn Mūsā had deposed himself, released everyone from the oaths they had sworn to him, and transferred the succession to Mūsā al-Hādī. ʿĪsā ibn Mūsā confirmed this and pledged his own allegiance to the Caliph. The assembly then rose and pledged allegiance to the Caliph in order of their rank and age. A formal deed was drawn up for ʿĪsā ibn Mūsā, reinforced by stringent oaths invoking divorce and manumission. It was witnessed by a number of commanders, ministers, and prominent members of the Banū Hāshim and others, and al-Mahdī granted him the sums of money and other gifts mentioned earlier. In the same year ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Shihāb al-Masmaʿī marched with a great host against the Indian city of Bārbad. He besieged it, set up mangonels, and bombarded it with naphtha, burning part of the city and killing many of its people before taking it by storm. When his force tried to withdraw, rough seas prevented them, so they remained in place and were struck by an oral disease called ḥummā qurr; a thousand men died, among them al-Rabīʿ ibn Ṣubayḥ. When travel again became possible they embarked, but a storm arose and another group drowned. The survivors reached Basra with many captives, including the daughter of the city’s king (2). That year al-Mahdī ruled that the descendants of Abū Bakra al-Thaqafī were to be attached to the walāʾ (patronage) of the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—severing their affiliation to the tribe of Thaqīf. He sent written orders to the governor of Basra to this effect and also annulled their claims of descent from Ziyād and from Nāfiʿ. On that occasion the poet Khālid al-Najjār recited: Ziyād, Nāfiʿ, and Abū Bakra— the strangest marvels known to me: One claims he is of Quraysh, one a client, the third—so he says—pure Arab free! Ibn Jarīr records that the deputy governor of Basra did not carry out the order (3). During the same year al-Mahdī led the people in the ḥajj, appointing his son Mūsā al-Hādī as his deputy in Baghdad. He took with him his son Hārūn al-Rashīd and a number of commanders, among them Yaʿqūb ibn Dāwūd, who retained his rank and standing. Al-Ḥasan ibn Ibrāhīm had fled from the Khādim and reached the Ḥijāz; Yaʿqūb ibn Dāwūd secured him safe-conduct, and al-Mahdī treated him generously.