of the police; he rounded up most of them, their houses were plundered, not a single head of theirs dared rise again, and their stipends from the public treasury were cut off altogether.

The Caliph and Ibn Rāʾiq then sent a menacing letter to Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Barīdī. He answered by undertaking to remit each year three hundred and sixty thousand dinars, to be paid in monthly consignments (1), and to equip an army to fight ʿImād al-Dawla ibn Būyah (2). Yet when the Caliph and Ibn Rāʾiq returned to Baghdad, he sent neither money nor troops. Ibn Rāʾiq therefore dispatched Bujkam and Badr al-Kharshanī to wage war against Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Barīdī. Battles and grave events broke out between them—matters too long to recount here. Al-Barīdī eventually sought refuge with ʿImād al-Dawla and placed himself under his protection, while Bujkam seized the province of Ahwāz, whose revenues Ibn Rāʾiq assigned to him. Bujkam was a brave and fearsome warrior.

In Rabīʿ al-Awwal the Caliph bestowed robes of honor upon Bujkam, invested him with the governorship of Baghdad, and appointed him vice-gerent over the eastern territories as far as Khurāsān.

Among the notable persons who died this year were:

Abū Ḥāmid ibn al-Sharqī (3)—Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan, known as Abū Ḥāmid ibn al-Sharqī. He was born in 240 AH. A great ḥāfiẓ of lofty rank, endowed with prodigious memory and a frequent pilgrim. He traveled through many lands, journeyed across numerous regions, and heard hadith from the foremost scholars. One day Ibn Khuzaymah looked at him and said, “The very life of Abū Ḥāmid stands as a barrier between the people and lying against the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.”

ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn Sufyān (4), Abū al-Ḥasan (5) al-Khazzāz (6), the grammarian.