Alas for separation! What has befallen me and them
when the scourge of parting descended—the moment came and they departed!
O driver of the camels, hasten, that I may bid them farewell;
O driver of the camels, your very journey foreshortens my span.
I have kept the covenant and never betrayed our affection;
would that I knew—after so long a pledge, (1) what have they done? (2)
A man among the ill-wishers who were with me said, “They are dead.”
The youth replied, “Then I shall die.” He answered, “As you wish.”
The youth stretched himself out, leaned against a nearby pillar, and died;
we did not leave until we had buried him—may Allah have mercy on him.
Al-Mubarrad died after passing the age of seventy.
[Then came the year 286 AH.]
Among its events:
In Rabiʿ al-Akhir the city of Āmid was surrendered by Ibn al-Shaykh, and a letter reached al-Muʿtaḍid—who was encamped outside Āmid—from Hārūn ibn Khumarawayh (3) ibn Aḥmad ibn Ṭūlūn in Egypt, asking that Qinnasrīn and the ʿAwāṣim be ceded to him on condition that he be confirmed as governor of the Egyptian territories. The caliph agreed, then broke camp from Āmid and headed toward Iraq, ordering the demolition of Āmid’s wall; part of it (4) was torn down, but they were unable to complete the task. Ibn al-Muʿtazz congratulated him on the capture of Āmid with the following verses (5):
Peace to you, Commander of the Faithful—may you ever abide
in bliss, and may victory ever be your due;
For many a crisis have you risen to meet,
advancing while Time itself lagged behind;
A lion whose prey are other lions—
not even the tip of his claw is whitened by their blood.
When the caliph returned to Baghdad, a gift from ʿAmr ibn al-Layth arrived from Nīshāpūr. It reached Baghdad on Thursday, eight days before the end of Jumādā al-Ākhirah, and was valued at four million dirhams, not counting horses, saddles, and other items (6).
In the same year (7) Ismāʿīl ibn Aḥmad the Samanid and ʿAmr ibn al-Layth went to war. The cause was that, after ʿAmr ibn al-Layth had killed Rāfiʿ ibn Harthama and sent his head to the caliph, he asked that the lands beyond the Oxus be granted to him, in addition to the provinces already in his possession,