captives. The people of Nisibis and Mosul rushed out against them, whereupon the Byzantines fled and withdrew to their own country—may Allah curse them.

In this same year, ʿAmr ibn al-Layth entrusted the command of the police in Baghdad and Sāmarrā to ʿUbayd Allah ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Ṭāhir. Abu Ahmad sent him a robe of honor, and ʿAmr ibn al-Layth likewise invested him with one, adding a gift of two golden columns. All this came on top of the provinces that his brother had already administered.

Also this year, Aghartamish marched out to fight ʿAli ibn Abān al-Mahlabī. On the way he passed through Tustar (1), seized the prisoners there who belonged to ʿAli ibn Abān’s faction among the commanders, and executed every last one of them. He then advanced against ʿAli ibn Abān himself, and they fought a number of fierce battles. In the final engagement ʿAli ibn Abān prevailed: he slew many of Aghartamish’s men, captured others and put them to death, then sent their heads to the vile leader of the Zanj, who set them up on the ramparts of his city—may Allah disgrace him.

In the same year the people of Ḥimṣ rose against their governor, ʿĪsā al-Karkhī, and killed him in Shawwāl.

That year as well, al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Ḥasan al-Aṣghar al-ʿAqīqī summoned the people of Ṭabaristān to rally to him. He claimed that al-Ḥasan ibn Zayd had been taken captive and that no one remained to champion the cause except himself, so they gave him their allegiance. When word of this reached al-Ḥasan ibn Zayd he advanced against him, fought him, killed him, plundered the wealth of those who had followed him, and burned their houses.

During the same year a civil strife broke out in Medina and its environs between the Jaʿfarids and the ʿAlawids. A man (2) of the Prophet’s Household, descended from al-Ḥasan ibn Zayd who had seized control of Ṭabaristān, gained the upper hand there. Terrible disorders followed, owing to the killing (3) that took place among the Jaʿfarids and the ʿAlawids—the details of which (4) are too lengthy to recount.

In this year a band of Bedouins attacked the kiswah (the cloth covering) of the Kaʿbah and carried it off. Part of it (5) found its way to the Zanj leader. The pilgrims suffered grievously at their hands and endured severe hardship.

That same year the Byzantines again raided the district of Diyār Rabīʿah.

In addition, the forces of the Zanj leader entered Rāmhurmuz and captured it after a long fight.

Still in that year Ibn Abī al-Sāj entered Mecca. Ibn al-Makhzūmī (6) came out to fight him, but Ibn Abī al-Sāj defeated him, burned his house, and seized his property; this occurred on the Day of Tarwiyah of that year. The caliph had already invested Ibn Abī al-Sāj with the governorship of the Two Holy Cities.