and made his way toward Baghdad. News of his flight reached his brother Nāṣir al-Dawla Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥamdān (1), who held the title “Emir of Emirs” in Baghdad; he therefore departed the city for Mosul, and his residence in Baghdad was plundered. Thus Nāṣir al-Dawla’s rule over Baghdad lasted thirteen months and five days.

After his withdrawal, his brother Sayf al-Dawla arrived, encamped at Bāb Ḥarb, and asked the caliph to supply him with funds with which to wage war against Tuzun. The caliph sent him four hundred thousand dirhams, which he distributed among his troops. When he heard of Tuzun’s approach, he left Baghdad; Tuzun entered on the twenty-fifth of Ramaḍān, whereupon al-Muttaqī invested him with robes of honor, appointed him “Emir of Emirs,” and his authority in Baghdad was firmly established.

At that time Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Buraydī returned to Wāsiṭ and expelled Tuzun’s supporters who were there. Tuzun had been holding captive a young mamluk of Sayf al-Dawla named Thimāl; he released him and sent him back to his master—a deed that greatly pleased the Hamdānid family.

In this same year a mighty earthquake struck the region of Nasā, toppling many buildings and killing a great number of people.

Ibn al-Jawzī reports:
“In Baghdad, during the months of Aylūl and Tishrīn, there was an intense heat that stifled the breath. In Ṣafar news arrived that the Byzantines had entered Arzan and Mayyāfāriqīn, taking captives and setting fires. (2)”

In Rabīʿ al-Ākhir of this year the marriage contract of Abū Manṣūr Isḥāq, son of the caliph al-Muttaqī li-llāh, to ʿAlawiyya, daughter of Nāṣir al-Dawla Abū Muḥammad ibn Ḥamdān (3), was concluded for a dowry of one hundred thousand dinars and one million dirhams. The contract for the bride was officiated by Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Abī Mūsā al-Hāshimī, while Nāṣir al-Dawla himself was not present. Nāṣir al-Dawla also struck a new coinage on which he added the inscription: ʿAbd Āl Muḥammad (4).

Ibn al-Jawzī further states:
“In Ādhār of this year prices rose so high that people ate dogs, the plague broke out among the populace, and vast swarms of locusts arrived—so plentiful that fifty rotls were sold for a single dirham—so people made use of them during the famine. (5)”

That same year a letter came from the Byzantine emperor to the caliph requesting a cloth kept in the Church of Edessa upon which the Messiah had wiped His face, leaving His image upon it. He promised that if it were sent to him, he would release a great number of Muslim captives. The caliph summoned the scholars and consulted them. Some said, “We have a greater claim to Jesus than they do, and sending it to them would be a humiliation (6) to the Muslims and a weakening of their position.”

The vizier ʿAlī ibn ʿĪsā remarked, “O Commander of the Faithful, the rescue of prisoners…"