Ibn al-Jawzi said:
In this same year the astrologers assured the people that most of the provinces would be inundated during the winter because of heavy rains, floods, and the swelling of the rivers. Allah, however, exposed their lie: no year saw less rainfall than this one. Springs nearly disappeared, and drought struck the inhabitants of every region, so that the people of Baghdad and elsewhere performed the rain-prayer many times. To Allah belongs the command before and after.
He also said (1): During this year a figure would appear at night inside the caliphal residence carrying a sword. Whenever the guards tried to seize him he bolted, slipping into some nook, field, grove, or passageway within the palace, and no trace of him could be found. Al-Muʿtaḍid became greatly agitated, ordered the palace wall to be rebuilt and firmly secured, and instructed the guards on every side to maintain strict watch, yet none of that helped. He summoned exorcists, practitioners of magic, and specialists in dealing with the deranged; they recited their incantations and strove hard, but to no avail. The matter left them baffled.
After some time the truth emerged: the intruder was a eunuch servant who had fallen in love with one of the privileged concubines—women whom someone of his rank was not even allowed to see. He had fashioned beards of various colors; each night he would don one, appear in a terrifying guise, and throw the slave-girls and servants into panic. They would rush about in every direction in pursuit, whereupon he would duck into a corridor, remove the beard, tuck it into his sleeve, and reappear as one of the servants ostensibly searching for the culprit. He would ask this one and that, “What is happening?” The sword in his hand served to show that he too was afraid. When the concubines gathered, he could gaze at his beloved, observe her, and signal to her as he wished. He continued this stratagem until the reign of al-Muqtadir, when he was dispatched with a detachment to Tarsus (2). The concubine informed against him, his fraud and imposture were exposed, and Allah—exalted is He—destroyed him.
In this year the army in Egypt mutinied against Hārūn ibn Khumārawayh. They installed one of his father’s commanders, Abū Jaʿfar ibn Abān, to manage affairs and set matters right. He sent word to Damascus, which had withheld allegiance to Jaysh ibn Khumārawayh during his nine-month tenure after his father, and whose situation had become chaotic. He therefore dispatched a large force under Badr al-Hammāmī and al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Mādarāʾī (3). They restored order, appointed Ṭughj (4) ibn Juff as deputy governor, and returned to Egypt while conditions there remained highly unsettled.