and he died on the spot.

The favored concubine thereupon began to wail over him, crying:
“O Commander of the Faithful! Desiring that he should belong to me alone, I have slain him with my own hand.”

His death occurred in Muḥarram of this very year, that is, 169 AH. According to the most widely accepted report he was forty-three years old. His caliphate had lasted ten years, one month, and a few additional days. The poets composed many elegies for him, which have been recorded by Ibn Jarīr and Ibn ʿAsākir.

[In the same year the following notable figures passed away]
ʿUbayd Allah ibn Ziyād.
Nāfiʿ ibn ʿUmar al-Jumahī.
Nāfiʿ ibn Abī Nuʿaym, the Qurʾān-reciter.

[The Caliphate of Mūsā al-Hādī, son of al-Mahdī]

His father died in Muḥarram at the outset of 169 AH, and al-Hādī was the heir apparent. Before his death, however, al-Mahdī had intended to advance his other son, al-Rashīd, over him in the succession, but this had not been accomplished before al-Mahdī died in Mā Sabadhān. At that time al-Hādī was in Jurjān, while some dignitaries of state—among them al-Rabīʿ the chamberlain and a number of military commanders—were inclined to give precedence to al-Rashīd and to pledge allegiance to him. Al-Rashīd was then in Baghdad, and they were ready to spend lavishly on the troops to carry out what al-Mahdī had wished.

When the news reached al-Hādī, he made haste from Jurjān to Baghdad, covering the journey in twenty days. He entered Baghdad, delivered a public address, and received the pledge of allegiance from the people, which they duly rendered. Al-Rabīʿ the chamberlain went into hiding, but al-Hādī sought him out until he was brought before him; he pardoned him, treated him well, confirmed him in his post as chamberlain, and even bestowed upon him the vizierate and other governorships.

Al-Hādī then set about pursuing the zindīqs (heretics) throughout the provinces, killing a great number of them, following the policy of his father.

Mūsā al-Hādī was one of the most convivial of men with his companions in private, yet when he sat upon the seat of the caliphate they could not so much as look at him, so overwhelming were his dignity and authority. He was a handsome young man, solemn and awe-inspiring.

In the same year—169 AH—al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib rose in Madinah. One morning he donned white garments and seated himself in the Prophet’s Mosque. When the people came for prayer and saw him, they turned back. A group gathered round him and pledged allegiance to him on the basis of the Book, the Sunnah, and the approval of the Prophet’s Household.

The reason for his rising was that the governor of the city had departed for Baghdad to congratulate the caliph on his accession and to offer condolences for his father. Events then unfolded that compelled al-Ḥusayn to revolt. Members of the Prophet’s Household and others rallied to him, making the Prophet’s Mosque their headquarters; they prevented the people from praying there. The inhabitants of Madinah, however, did not support his aims; rather, they began to invoke curses against him for having violated