In this same year ʿAlī ibn al-Muʿtaṣim was exiled to Wāsiṭ and was later brought back to Baghdad (1) as well.

On Monday, the last day of Dhū al-Qaʿda, Mūsā ibn Bughā the Elder met al-Ḥusayn ibn Aḥmad al-Kawkabī, the Ṭālibī who had risen in 251 AH near Qazvīn. A fierce battle ensued, after which al-Kawkabī was routed; Mūsā seized Qazvīn and al-Kawkabī fled to Daylam.

Ibn Jarīr (2) relates from someone who witnessed the encounter that, when the armies closed, al-Kawkabī ordered his men to shield themselves with ḥujaf (small round bucklers) (3), so that arrows could not harm them. Mūsā ibn Bughā thereupon commanded his troops to pour the nafṭ (naphtha) they were carrying onto the ground. He then pressed an attack, pretending that they had been driven back; al-Kawkabī’s soldiers pursued them, and when they reached the area drenched with naphtha Mūsā ordered that fire be cast into it. The flames engulfed al-Kawkabī’s followers, who turned and fled in panic. Mūsā and his men wheeled round, fell upon them, and inflicted a great slaughter. Al-Kawkabī escaped to Daylam, while Mūsā ibn Bughā took possession of Qazvīn.

In this same year the pilgrimage was led on behalf of the people by ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn Sulaymān al-Zaynabī.

Among the notable deaths of the year were:

Abū al-Ashʿath (4);

Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd al-Dārimī (5);

and Sarī al-Saqaṭī (6), one of the senior shaykhs among the foremost masters of Sufism. He is Sarī ibn al-Mughalis, Abū al-Ḥasan al-Saqaṭī al-Baghdādī, a disciple of Maʿrūf al-Karkhī.