spread—the lowborn set upon the highborn—and on the sixth of Dhu al-Hijjah they turned against al-Amin. At that, a man of Baghdad recited:

Tell the Caliph who deems himself secure:
None but the Ghāliyah have scattered the host!
Ṭāhir—my soul be the ransom of Ṭāhir—
with his envoys and sufficient arms,
Now holds the reins of kingship in his grasp,
waging war on the rebellious faction.
O oath-breaker, your own betrayal has delivered you;
your vices, in their vileness, stand exposed.
The lion has come at you in his assaults—
a ravenous beast amid ferocious lions.
So flee! Yet no flight exists from one like him
save to the Fire or the yawning abyss.

Al-Amin’s forces accordingly scattered and he was bewildered. Ibn al-Ḥusayn advanced with his troops and, on Tuesday, twelve nights having elapsed of Dhu al-Hijjah, encamped at the Anbār Gate. Conditions for the townsfolk became severe: rogues and brigands terrorized the righteous, homes were laid waste, and strife flared among the people until brother fought brother over clashing loyalties and son fought father. Grave evils ensued, passions diverged, and corruption and bloodshed multiplied within the city.

That year ʿAbbās ibn Mūsā ibn ʿĪsā al-Hāshimī led the pilgrimage on behalf of Ṭāhir, proclaiming al-Maʾmūn’s caliphate in Mecca and Medina—the first season in which al-Maʾmūn’s name was invoked.

In the same year died:

Baqiyyah ibn al-Walīd al-Ḥimṣī (1), the leading imam, jurist, and hadith scholar of Homs;

and Ḥafṣ ibn Ghiyāth, the judge (2), who lived past ninety years. When death approached and one of his companions wept, he said, “Do not weep. By Allah, never once have I lowered my trousers for anything unlawful, nor have two litigants ever sat before me and I cared on which of them the judgment fell—whether he was near or far, king or commoner.”