Then the year 318 AH began.

During it, the Caliph al-Muqtadir billah dismissed his vizier Abū ʿAlī ibn Muqla, whose tenure had lasted two years, four months, and three days. In his place he appointed Sulaymān ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Makhlad, and set ʿAlī ibn ʿĪsā over him as supervisor.

In Jumādā al-Ūlā of that year, the residence of Abū ʿAlī ibn Muqla was burned. He had spent one hundred thousand dinars on it. The people plundered its timber along with whatever iron, lead, and other materials they found inside, and the Caliph fined him two hundred thousand dinars.

That same year the Caliph expelled from Baghdad the infantry guard who had been stationed in the palace precincts. After they had restored al-Muqtadir to the caliphate they began voicing many reproachful remarks about them (1), saying, “Whoever assists an oppressor will have him unleashed upon him, and whoever hoists a donkey onto the rooftop (2) will not be able to bring it down.” He therefore ordered them out of Baghdad, threatening punishment for any who remained. Many houses belonging to their relatives were set on fire, and some of their women and children perished in the flames. They departed in utter humiliation, settled in Wāsiṭ, seized control of the city, and drove out its governor (3). Muʾnis al-Khādim rode out against them, inflicted a harsh defeat, and killed a great many of them, so that thereafter they were never again able to raise a banner (4).

In Rabīʿ al-Awwal of that year the Caliph deposed Nāṣir al-Dawlah ibn Ḥamdān from Mosul and appointed in his stead their two uncles, Saʿīd and Naṣr, the sons of Ḥamdān. He assigned to him the lands of Diyār Rabīʿah—Naṣībīn, Sinjār, the Khabūr, and Raʾs al-ʿAyn—together with Mayyāfāriqīn and Arzan, on the condition that he would pay the Caliph a stipulated sum each year (5).

In Jumādā al-Ūlā a man appeared in the district of al-Bawāzīj named Ṣāliḥ ibn Maḥmūd. A group from Banū Mālik rallied to him. He then marched on Sinjār, besieged it, entered it, and seized a large amount of its wealth. There he delivered a sermon, exhorting, reminding, and warning, in the course of which he declared: “We pledge allegiance to the two Shaykhs and disavow the two impure ones (6); and we do not regard wiping over leather socks as permissible.” He then went forth and spread corruption in the land. Naṣr ibn Ḥamdān was dispatched against him and fought him. Ṣāliḥ ibn Maḥmūd, together with two of his sons, was captured and brought to Baghdad, entering the city amid a most dreadful public disgrace (7).