It had been the untouched maidenhead of glory, and the stallion of the East—al-Afshin—ripped it open with his sword. (1)

He left it such that foxes now howl in its very midst, though but yesterday you would have seen it a lion’s lair. Unceasing showers poured down upon it from the skulls of its own people—downpours whose every drop and rivulet was steeped in gore. (2)

For ten full years it had been an unassailable wilderness, far removed from the tumult of war; now it has become a copious spring that feeds it. (3)

In this same year—223 AH—the Byzantine emperor, Tuwfil ibn Mikhaʾil (Theophilus), may Allah curse him, fell upon the Muslims of Malatya (4) and the surrounding districts in a terrible carnage. He slew great numbers of them, took captives beyond counting, and among those he seized were one thousand Muslim women. He mutilated the Muslims who fell into his hands—cutting off their ears and noses and putting out their eyes—may Allah disfigure him. (5)

The cause of this was that when Babak—may Allah curse him—found himself surrounded in the city of al-Badh and the troops had fully closed in on him, he wrote to the Byzantine emperor saying:

‘The king of the Arabs has dispatched against me the bulk of his army, and there remains in the furthest reaches of his lands no one to guard them. If you desire booty, march quickly against the territories nearest you and seize them, for you will meet no one to oppose you.’ (6)

So Tuwfil—may Allah curse him—set out with one hundred thousand men. Joining him were the Muhammara, who had taken to the mountains. Ishaq ibn Ibrahim ibn Musʿab fought them but could not overcome them; they fortified themselves in those mountains. When the Byzantine emperor arrived they sided with him against the Muslims, until they reached Zabatra where they killed many of its men and carried off a large number of its womenfolk. News of this reached al-Muʿtaṣim, who was deeply agitated. He cried the call to arms from his palace, rose at once, ordered the armies to be mustered, and summoned the judge and trustworthy witnesses, before whom he declared that of the estates he owned, one-third was for Allah, (7) one-third for his children, and one-third for his clients. (8)

He left Baghdad and camped on the western bank of the Tigris on Monday, two nights having passed of Jumada al-Ula. He then dispatched before him ʿUjayf and a group of commanders, along with (9) a contingent of the army to aid the people of Zabatra. They hurried forward and found the emperor