in what they assert concerning their lineage, as more than one of the eminent scholars has explicitly declared; the particulars and proofs will be presented in their proper place, if Allah so wills. ⦗1⦘

In the same year an estrangement arose between Muʾnis al-Khādim and the caliph al-Muqtadir. Its cause was that Nāzūk, the chief of police, quarreled with Hārūn ibn Gharīb—al-Muqtadir’s maternal cousin. Hārūn gained the upper hand, and rumor spread among the populace that he would soon be made “Commander of Commanders.” Word of this reached Muʾnis while he was in al-Raqqah, so he hurried back to Baghdad, met the caliph, and the two were briefly reconciled. The caliph then moved Hārūn into the palace, which only deepened the rift. A number of commanders sided with Muʾnis, envoys passed back and forth between the two camps, and the year ended with matters still in that unsettled state—all of it a sign of the weakness and disorder of affairs and of the rampant, spreading strife.

In that same year al-Ḥasan ⦗2⦘ ibn al-Qāsim, known as al-Dāʿī al-ʿAlawī, the ruler of Rayy, was killed by the ruler of Daylam, whose sultan at the time was the criminal Mardāwīj—may Allah disgrace him. ⦗3⦘

[Among the notable persons who died this year]

Bunān ibn Muḥammad ibn Ḥamdān ibn Saʿīd ⦗4⦘, Abū al-Ḥasan—the ascetic better known as al-Ḥammāl (the Porter).

He transmitted hadith from al-Ḥasan ibn ʿArafah. His renunciation of the world was proverbial, and many extraordinary feats were attributed to him. He held a lofty place in people’s eyes and never accepted anything from the rulers. Once he censured Aḥmad ibn Ṭūlūn for a wrongdoing and commanded him to do what is right; Ibn Ṭūlūn thereupon ordered that he be thrown before a lion. The lion merely sniffed him and drew back, whereupon he was removed unharmed, and the people revered him thereafter even more than before.

Someone asked him, “What was your state when you were standing before the lion?” He replied, “I felt no distress at all; rather, I was pondering the ruling on suʾr al-sibāʿ (the water or saliva left behind by predatory beasts)—is it pure or impure? ⦗5⦘”

They relate that a man once came to him and said, “I am owed one hundred dinars by another man, but the document proving it has been lost, and I fear he will deny the debt. I ask you to supplicate for me. ⦗6⦘” He answered, “I am an old man ⦗7⦘, and I am fond of sweetmeats. Go and buy me…"