• Abū Ghassān al-Nahdī (1).

Then the year 220 AH (2) began.

On the Day of ʿĀshūrāʾ, ʿUjayf arrived in Baghdad by boat, bringing with him twenty-seven thousand of the Zutt who had come to the Caliph under a guarantee of safety. They were settled on the eastern side of the city, whereupon the Caliph exiled them to ʿAyn Zarbah (3). The Romans (Byzantines) swept down upon them and annihilated them to the last man; none escaped, and that was the end of them (4).

In this same year al-Muʿtaṣim appointed al-Afshīn—whose personal name was Ḥaydar ibn Kāwus—at the head of a great army to fight Bābak al-Khurramī, may Allah curse him. Bābak’s affair had grown formidable, his power consolidated, and his followers had spread through Azerbaijan and the surrounding regions. His first appearance had been in 201 AH, and he was a notorious heretic, an accursed devil (5).

Al-Afshīn set out, excelling in the arts of war: keeping watch, fortifying strongholds, and maintaining uninterrupted lines of supply (6). Al-Muʿtaṣim sent him, by way of Bugha the Elder, large sums of money as pay for his soldiers and followers. During that year he and Bābak met in a fierce battle. Al-Afshīn slew a great number of Bābak’s men—more than one thousand (7)—and Bābak fled, defeated, to his city. This was the first crack in Bābak’s power, may Allah curse him. Further engagements took place between them whose full account would be lengthy; they have been thoroughly recorded by Imām Abū Jaʿfar ibn Jarīr (8), may Allah have mercy on him.

That year al-Muʿtaṣim also departed Baghdad and encamped at al-Qāṭūl, where he remained.

During the same year al-Muʿtaṣim became displeased with al-Faḍl ibn Marwān, despite his great standing; he removed him from the vizierate, imprisoned him, confiscated his property, and appointed Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Malik al-Zayyāt in his place.