He said: We examined the matter and recorded the date; it turned out that al-Muhtadī billah had been killed that very day—Monday, 16 Rajab 256 AH.
The Caliphate of al-Muʿtamid ʿala Allah
Aḥmad ibn al-Mutawakkil ʿala Allah, known as Ibn Fitayān (1), was given the oath of allegiance on Tuesday, 13 Rajab 256 AH, in the residence of the amir Bārjukh (2), a few days before al-Muhtadī was deposed. The general bayʿa was concluded on Monday, 22 Rajab.
On 20 Rajab, Mūsā ibn Bugha and Mufliḥ entered Sāmarrāʾ. Mūsā took up residence in his own house; the populace settled down and the disturbances subsided.
As for the leader of the Zanj, who claimed Alid descent, he was besieging Basra. The caliphal armies (3) were drawn up in front of him outside the city, yet time after time he defeated them and seized whatever food and other supplies reached them by boat. He then took possession of al-Abulla, ʿAbbādān and other territories. The people of Basra were in extreme fear of him. His authority continued to strengthen, his forces to multiply, and his numbers to swell, and so it remained until the close of the year.
In the same year another man rose in Kūfa: ʿAlī ibn Zayd al-Ṭālibī. A contingent sent by the caliph marched against him, but al-Ṭālibī routed it; his cause flourished in Kūfa, his power grew, and his danger intensified.
That year Muḥammad ibn Wāṣil [ibn Ibrāhīm] (4) al-Tamīmī attacked the governor of Ahwāz, al-Ḥārith ibn Sīmā al-Sharābī (5), killed him, and seized the province of Ahwāz.
In Ramaḍān of the same year al-Ḥasan ibn Zayd al-Ṭālibī gained control of Rayy. In Shawwāl, Mūsā ibn Bugha set out against him from al-Muʿtamid’s side, and the caliph came out to bid him farewell.
That year also witnessed a major engagement at the Gate of Damascus between Amajūr, the city’s governor—who had with him only about four hundred cavalry—and a son of ʿĪsā ibn al-Shaykh, whose force numbered nearly twenty thousand. Amajūr routed him. A writ then arrived from the caliph appointing Ibn al-Shaykh governor of Armenia on condition that he leave the people of Syria unmolested; he accepted the terms and withdrew from them.