and detachments kept arriving to support him from every direction, while al-Mutawakkil sent against him one army after another. They set up mangonels around his city on every side and subjected him to an exceedingly tight siege. He fought them with great ferocity, and he and his companions showed remarkable patience.
Bughā al-Sharābī then came to besiege him and did not cease until he captured him (1), pillaged his wealth and womenfolk, killed many of his principal followers, took the rest prisoner, and thereby extinguished the power of Ibn al-Baʿīth—praise be to Allah.
In this same year, during Jumada al-Awwal, al-Mutawakkil ʿalā Allah set out for al-Madaʾin.
That year Itākh, one of the great commanders—he was governor of Mecca, Medina, and the Pilgrimage season—performed the Hajj, and prayers were offered for him from the pulpits.
Itākh had originally been a Khazar slave and cook in the service of a man named Salām al-Abrash. Al-Muʿtaṣim bought him in 199 AH, raised his standing, and favored him. Al-Wāthiq, after his father, likewise entrusted him with many posts, and al-Mutawakkil ʿalā Allah did the same, in recognition of Itākh’s manliness (2), courage, and energy.
That same year he spent an evening drinking with al-Mutawakkil, who became abusive toward him; Itākh therefore considered killing him. When morning came al-Mutawakkil apologized, saying, “You are my father, you reared me.” He then secretly sent someone to advise Itākh to request permission to perform the Hajj. Itākh sought leave and was granted it; al-Mutawakkil appointed him over every town he would pass through, and the commanders escorted him along the pilgrimage route. Al-Mutawakkil meanwhile assigned the office of chamberlain to Wasif the eunuch in Itākh’s place.
That year the pilgrims were led by Muḥammad ibn Dāwūd, the governor of Mecca, who had headed the Hajj for many years.
Among the notable deaths in that year were Abū Khaythama Zuhayr ibn Harb (3); Sulaymān ibn Dāwūd al-Shādhakūnī, one of the leading hadith preservers (4); and ʿAbd Allah ibn Muḥammad al-Nufaylī (5).