He then withdrew from the caliph’s presence, honoured and esteemed, and al-ʿAbbās ibn al-Muqtadir, the vizier ʿAlī ibn ʿĪsā, and Naṣr the chamberlain mounted in his service to bid him farewell, while the leading amirs, such as the chamberlains, rode before him. His departure was a memorable occasion, for he set out for the frontier zones to fight the Byzantines—may Allah grant him victory over them, support him, and aid him.

In Jumādā I [of that year] (1) a strangler was arrested who had murdered a multitude of women. He had claimed that he knew the arts of love-magic and astrology, so women sought him out; whenever he found himself alone with a woman (2) he would seize her and throttle her with a bow-string—his wife assisting him in that—then dig a pit in his house and bury her there. When that house (3) became filled, he moved to another. Once his crime was exposed they discovered in his house (4) seventeen women whom he had strangled; they then searched the other dwellings he had occupied and found that he had slain a great many women. He was given one thousand lashes and then crucified alive until he died—may Allah disgrace him.

The Rise of the Daylamites
In this same year the Daylamites emerged in the land of Rayy. Among them there arose a ruler who gained complete control over them, a man called Mardāwīj (5). He would sit upon a throne of gold, with a throne of silver set before him, and proclaim, “I am Solomon son of David.” He conducted himself among the people of Rayy, Qazvīn, and Iṣfahān with an exceedingly vile policy: he killed women and even infants in their cradles and seized people’s wealth. He reached the utmost limits of tyranny, harshness, and audacity toward the sanctities of Allah—Exalted is He—until the Turks killed him, and Allah relieved the Muslims of his evil. Praise and thanks belong to Allah.

In this year, too, a great battle took place between Yūsuf ibn Abī al-Sāj and Abū Ṭāhir the Qarmaṭī near Kūfah. Abū Ṭāhir reached the city first and blocked him from it. Yūsuf ibn Abī al-Sāj wrote to him: “Hear and obey, otherwise prepare for battle on Saturday, the ninth of Shawwāl of this year.” He replied, “Come!” [so he marched against him] (6). When the two armies confronted one another, Yūsuf ibn Abī al-Sāj—who had with him twenty thousand men—looked down on the Qarmaṭī force, which consisted of one thousand horsemen (7) and five hundred foot soldiers. He (8) said, “What worth are these dogs?” and ordered his secretary to write to the caliph announcing victory before the engagement had even begun. But when they clashed, the Qarmaṭīs displayed tremendous steadfastness, and Abū Ṭāhir Sulaymān ibn Abī Saʿīd al-Jannābī—may Allah curse him—dismounted.