and found six hundred thousand dinars that belonged to al-Muqtadir’s mother ⦗1⦘. She had buried the money in a grave within her own burial ground, and it was transferred to the state treasury.
Al-Muqtadir, together with his mother, his maternal aunt, and his favored maidservants, was expelled from the palace after it had been put under siege. The chamberlains and servants who were inside took to flight, and Nazuk was given charge of the chamberlainship in addition to the police. Al-Muqtadir was compelled to draft, in his own hand, a deed of abdication from the caliphate and to have a number of emirs and notables ⦗2⦘ bear witness to it. He then handed the document to the judge Abū ʿUmar Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf, who said to his son Abū al-Ḥusayn ⦗3⦘, “Keep this document safe and show it to no one in creation.” When al-Muqtadir was restored to the caliphate two days later, he asked for the deed back; the judge returned it, whereupon the caliph thanked him profusely and appointed him Chief Judge.
On Sunday, the sixteenth of Muḥarram, al-Qāhir bi-llāh assumed the caliphate, with the vizier Abū ʿAlī ibn Muqlah seated before him. He wrote to the provincial governors informing them that al-Qāhir bi-llāh had taken the caliphate in place of al-Muqtadir, released ʿAlī ibn ʿĪsā from prison, and increased the stipends of the emirs who had supported him, among them Abū al-Hayjāʾ ibn Ḥamdān.
On Monday the troops arrived, demanded their pay, and rioted. They hurried to Nazuk, killed him—he was drunk at the time—and then crucified him. The vizier and the chamberlains fled while the soldiers shouted, “O Muqtadir, O victor!” Muʾnis was not present that day. The soldiers came to his door demanding al-Muqtadir; he barred the entrance, and his servants defended it ⦗4⦘. When Muʾnis realized that surrendering al-Muqtadir was inevitable, he ordered him to go out. Al-Muqtadir ⦗5⦘ feared it was a ruse, but at last took heart and emerged. The men hoisted him onto their shoulders and carried him into the palace. He asked after his brother al-Qāhir and Abū al-Hayjāʾ ibn Ḥamdān so that he might write them a pledge of safety, but before long a servant arrived carrying Abū al-Hayjāʾ’s head, which he had severed and brought forth from between his shoulders.
Al-Muqtadir bi-llāh then entered and sat upon the throne. He summoned al-Qāhir, seated him before him, drew him close, and kissed him between the eyes, saying, “My brother, you are not to blame; I know you were simply overcome.” Al-Qāhir kept saying, “By Allah, by Allah—my life, my life, O Commander of the Faithful!” Al-Muqtadir replied, “By the Messenger of Allah, no harm shall ever come to you from me.” Ibn Muqlah again wrote to the provinces informing them that al-Muqtadir ⦗6⦘ had returned to the caliphate.
Affairs in Baghdad reverted to their former state; al-Muqtadir was once more firmly established as caliph, and Nazuk’s head was carried away.