and he even fashioned for himself a golden mask. A great many of the ignorant rabble followed him. He would show the people a “moon” that could be seen from a distance of two months’ travel and then make it disappear, whereupon their veneration for him grew and they defended him with arms. He claimed—may Allah curse him, and exalted is He far above the blasphemy they utter—that Allah had manifested Himself in the form of Adam, and for that reason the angels had prostrated to him; then in Noah; then successively in every prophet; thereafter in Abū Muslim al-Khurasānī; and finally in his own person.

When the Muslims besieged him in his fortress—which he had rebuilt in the region of Kash beyond the Oxus and which was called Sanām—he and his women drank poison and died. The Muslims then took possession of all his stores and wealth.

In the same year al-Mahdī dispatched detachments from Khurasan and other provinces to wage jihad against the Byzantines. He placed his son Hārūn al-Rashīd in overall command and left Baghdad with him, accompanying him for several stages. He appointed his son Mūsā al-Hādī as acting governor of Baghdad. Among those in the army were al-Ḥusayn ibn Qaḥṭabah, al-Rabīʿ the chamberlain, Khālid ibn Barmak—who functioned as al-Rashīd’s vizier while he was heir apparent—and Yaḥyā ibn Khālid, his secretary, under whose authority were all expenditures. Al-Mahdī kept escorting his son until they reached the Byzantine passes near Jayḥān (1); there he surveyed the city known as al-Mahdiyya in Byzantine territory, after which he returned to Syria and visited Jerusalem. Al-Rashīd continued on into Byzantine lands with massive forces, and Allah granted them many victories. They captured exceedingly great spoils, and Khālid ibn Barmak’s contribution was outstanding, unmatched by anyone else. They sent the glad tidings with Sulaymān ibn Barmak to al-Mahdī, who honored him and bestowed rich gifts upon him.

That same year al-Mahdī dismissed his uncle ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn ʿAlī from the governorship of al-Jazīrah and appointed Zufar ibn ʿĀṣim al-Hilālī in his place; he then removed Zufar and installed ʿAbd Allah ibn Ṣāliḥ ibn ʿAlī. Al-Mahdī also entrusted his son Hārūn al-Rashīd with the provinces of the Maghrib, Adharbayjan, and Armenia, and placed Yaḥyā ibn Khālid ibn Barmak in charge of his correspondence, while appointing and dismissing a number of other deputies. That year the Hajj was led on behalf of the people by ʿAlī ibn al-Mahdī.

Deaths recorded for the year:
Ibrāhīm ibn Tahmān;
Ḥarīz ibn ʿUthmān al-Ḥimṣī al-Raḥabī;
and Mūsā ibn ʿAlī al-Lakhmī of Egypt.