Marw turned the head of Abū al-Sarāyā about
and set an abiding lesson for all mankind. (1)

At that time Basra was in the hands of the Talibid Zayd ibn Mūsā ibn Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī, nicknamed Zayd al-Nār (“the Fire”) because of the many houses of the Black-Clad partisans he burned. ʿAlī ibn Saʿīd captured him, granted him safe-conduct, and sent him—together with the commanders who were with him—to Yemen to fight the Talibids there.

That same year another Talibid rose in Yemen: Ibrāhīm ibn Mūsā ibn Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī, known as al-Jazzār (“the Butcher”) on account of the large number of Yemenis he killed and the wealth he seized. He was the one who had previously entered Mecca and done what has already been mentioned. When news of Abū al-Sarāyā’s death reached him he fled toward Yemen, but as soon as the deputy of Yemen heard of his approach he abandoned the province and headed for Khurasan. Ibrāhīm passed through Mecca, took his mother from there, and then seized control of the Yemeni lands. Many battles ensued—too numerous to recount here.

Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar al-ʿAlawī withdrew the claim he had made, for he had declared himself caliph in Mecca, saying:

“I had supposed that al-Maʾmūn was dead, but now that I am certain he is alive I seek Allah’s forgiveness and repent to Him for what I claimed. I have returned to obedience; I am but one of the Muslims.”

After Harthama was defeated he wrote to Abū al-Sarāyā—the very man he had commanded to revolt. Al-Maʾmūn summoned him to Marw, ordered that he be beaten in his presence and that his belly be trampled. He was then taken to prison and, a few days later, executed, whereupon his story came to a complete end.

When news of his death reached Baghdad the common folk and the soldiers harassed al-Ḥasan ibn Sahl, the governor of Iraq, saying, “We will accept neither him nor his officials in our lands.” They installed Isḥāq ibn Mūsā al-Mahdī as governor, and the inhabitants on both banks of the city agreed. A number of commanders and troops rallied around al-Ḥasan ibn Sahl, while he dispatched those emirs who sided with the populace to incite them to fight. Fighting raged between the two sides for three days in Shaʿbān of this year. It was then agreed that he would give them part of their stipends to spend during Ramadan, but he kept delaying payment until Dhu al-Qaʿdah so that the crops would ripen.

In Dhu al-Qaʿdah Zayd ibn Mūsā—called Zayd al-Nār, a brother of Abū al-Sarāyā—rose again, this time in the region of al-Anbār. Al-Ḥasan ibn Sahl was then at al-Madāʾin, so ʿAlī ibn Hishām, his deputy in Baghdad, marched against Zayd. Zayd was captured and brought to ʿAlī ibn Hishām, and Allah extinguished his blaze. (2)

In this same year al-Maʾmūn ordered a census of all surviving members of the Abbasid family. Their number was found to be thirty-three thousand, male and female.

In the same year the Byzantines killed their king Alion, who had ruled them for seven years, and appointed his deputy Michael in his place.