In that same year:
A camel-driver by the name of “Sharkab” seized control of the city of Marw; the followers who were with him plundered it, and his power there grew alarmingly.

On the 17th of Dhu al-Qaʿda, Musa ibn Buga the Elder set out from Samarra to fight the vile leader of the Zanj. The caliph al-Muʿtamid came out to bid him farewell and conferred upon him a robe of honor at the moment of parting.

ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Muflih also departed, having been appointed governor of the Ahwaz region so that he might assist Musa ibn Buga in the war against that accursed leader of the Zanj. ʿAbd al-Rahman routed one of the rebel’s armies, killed great numbers of the Zanj, captured a large contingent of them, and so terrified the rest that they did not dare face him a second time, despite the rebel’s utmost incitement, which proved futile.

Subsequently ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Muflih and ʿAli ibn Aban al-Muhallabi—the commander of the Zanj forces—clashed. Many engagements followed whose details are too lengthy to relate, but in the end the fortune of battle turned against the Zanj, praise and thanks be to Allah. ʿAli ibn Aban returned to the vile rebel in chains (1), subdued, reviled, and routed. ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Muflih forwarded the captives to Samarra, where the populace rushed upon them, killed most of them, and stripped them.

In the same year (2) the Byzantine emperor—may Allah curse him—advanced toward the region of Samosata and then to Malatya. The inhabitants fought him, defeated him, slew the “patriarch of the patriarchs” who was with him, and he withdrew to his own lands, disgraced and downcast.

That year Yaʿqub ibn Layth entered Nishapur, captured the Kharijite who had been in Herat (3) claiming the caliphate for thirty years, killed him, fixed his head on a lance, and paraded it throughout the provinces and regions with a placard stating that fact (4).

The leader of the Pilgrimage in this year was Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn Ismaʿil ibn Jaʿfar ibn Sulayman ibn ʿAli ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbbas (5).

Among the notable people who died this year was Ibrahim ibn Yaʿqub (6) [ibn Ishaq] (7) [Abu Ishaq] (8) al-Jawzajani, the preacher of Damascus. He authored useful works, among them al-Mutarjim, which contains abundant knowledge and numerous valuable benefits.