until he overtook him and killed him in the year 283 AH, as will be mentioned below, then sent his head to al-Muʿtaḍid. From that moment the governorship of Khurasan belonged exclusively to ʿAmr ibn al-Layth (1).
In this same year al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allah, known as Ibn al-Jaṣṣāṣ, arrived from the Egyptian provinces bearing splendid gifts from Khumārawayh, the ruler of Egypt, to al-Muʿtaḍid bi-Llāh. The caliph thereupon married Khumārawayh’s daughter, and her father furnished her with a bridal outfit the like of which had never been heard of. It was even said that it included one hundred gold mortars. The whole dowry was conveyed from Egypt to Baghdad in the company of the bride, and the event became the talk of the age.
In this year as well, Aḥmad ibn ʿĪsā ibn al-Shaykh seized the citadel of Mardin, which had previously belonged to Isḥāq ibn Kundājiq (2).
Also in this year Hārūn ibn Muḥammad al-ʿAbbāsī led the people in the pilgrimage. It was the last time he performed the ḥajj, his first having been in 264 AH and continuing until this year (3).
Among the notable deaths recorded in this year were:
• Aḥmad, the Commander of the Faithful al-Muʿtamid, as his biography has been given shortly before (4).
• Abū Bakr ibn Abī Khaythama (5)—his full name was Aḥmad ibn Zuhayr ibn Khaythama—the historian and author of other works. He heard ḥadith from Abū Nuʿaym and ʿAffān; studied the science of ḥadith under Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal and Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn; genealogy under Muṣʿab al-Zubayrī; the battles and events of the people under Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad al-Madāʾinī; and adab under Muḥammad ibn Sallām al-Jumaḥī. He was trustworthy, an exacting memorizer, widely renowned, and his History abounds with valuable and unique material. Among those who narrated from him were al-Baghawī, Ibn Ṣāʿid, Ibn Abī Dāwūd, and Ibn al-Munādī. He died in Jumādā al-Ūlā of the present year at the age of ninety-four—may Allah have mercy on him.
• Khāqān Abū ʿAbd Allah al-Ṣūfī (6), a man distinguished by his spiritual states and miraculous gifts.