and Kathir ibn ʿUbayd al-Ḥimṣi (1); and Naṣr ibn ʿAli al-Jahḍamī (2).

[Then the year 251 AH began.]

During that year al-Mustaʿin, Bughā the Younger, and Waṣīf resolved to put Bāghir the Turk to death. Bāghir was among the senior commanders who had taken part in the assassination of al-Mutawakkil, and his fiefs had grown vast and his assignments many (3). He was therefore killed, and the residence of his scribe, Dulayl ibn Yaʿqūb the Christian, was plundered along with his wealth and stores.

The Caliph then boarded a ḥarāqa (river war-galley) and sailed from Sāmarrāʾ to Baghdad, and his departure threw affairs into turmoil. This occurred on the fifth (4) of Muḥarram, whereupon the Caliph took up residence in the house of Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Ṭāhir.

In that same year a dreadful civil strife erupted between the troops of Baghdad and those of Sāmarrāʾ. The people of Sāmarrāʾ called for allegiance to al-Muʿtazz, while the people of Baghdad remained loyal to al-Mustaʿin. Al-Muʿtazz and his brother al-Muʾayyad were released from prison; the people of Sāmarrāʾ then offered the pledge to al-Muʿtazz, and he seized the public treasury there, finding in it (5) 500,000 dinars. In the treasury (6) of al-Mustaʿin’s mother there were 1,000,000 dinars, and in the holdings of al-ʿAbbās ibn al-Mustaʿin 600,000 dinars. Consequently, al-Muʿtazz’s position in Sāmarrāʾ became formidable.

Al-Mustaʿin ordered Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Ṭāhir to fortify Baghdad: to reinforce both walls and the moat, at an expense of 330,000 dinars. He appointed an emir over every gate and mounted on the ramparts five manjanīqs (stone-throwing catapults), one of them exceptionally large and nicknamed “al-Ghaḍbān” (“the Angry One”), together with six ʿarrādāt (7)—additional siege engines. The engines of war and supplies were prepared, and bridges on every side were cut so that the opposing army could not reach the city.