While Tuzūn was away from Wāsiṭ, Muʿizz al-Dawlah ibn Būyah advanced upon the city with a large host of Daylamite troops. Tuzūn therefore hurried south to Wāsiṭ, and the two sides fought for a dozen days. In the end Muʿizz al-Dawlah was routed: his baggage train was plundered, many of his soldiers were killed, and a number of his leading companions were taken prisoner.
Tuzūn was then struck once more by the epilepsy that used to afflict him. Preoccupied with his condition, he withdrew to Baghdad.
In this same year Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Buraydī murdered his brother Abū Yūsuf. The cause was that Abū ʿAbd Allāh’s funds had run low, so he would borrow from Abū Yūsuf; the latter would lend him only small sums, after which Abū ʿAbd Allāh would vilify and censure him. The troops inclined toward Abū Yūsuf and turned away from Abū ʿAbd Allāh. Fearing they might pledge allegiance to his brother and abandon him, Abū ʿAbd Allāh dispatched a group of his slaves, who assassinated Abū Yūsuf. He then moved into his house and seized all his stores and wealth, valued at nearly three million (1) dinars.
He enjoyed the proceeds for no more than eight months, during which he was stricken with a severe bout of acute fever, and he died in Shawwāl of this year. Authority then passed to his brother Abū ʾl-Ḥusayn—may Allah disgrace him—who treated his men badly. They rose against him, whereupon he fled to the Qarmaṭians and sought their protection. After him, rule devolved upon Abū ʾl-Qāsim ibn Abī ʿAbd Allāh al-Buraydī over Wāsiṭ, Baṣrah, and the surrounding districts of Ahwāz and elsewhere.
As for the caliph al-Muttaqī li-llāh, when he had stayed some time with the Ḥamdānids in Mosul he sensed their annoyance and their wish to part company with him. He therefore wrote to Tuzūn proposing reconciliation. Tuzūn gathered the judges and notables of Baghdad; the caliph’s letter was read aloud, and Tuzūn responded with full hearing and obedience. He swore allegiance to the caliph and drafted a document acknowledging him and pledging to honor, respect, and humble himself before him and those with him. What the caliph later did and how he entered Baghdad will be mentioned under the events of the following year.
In this year a band of the Rūs came by sea to the regions of Ādharbayjān. They marched on Bardhaʿa, besieged it, and, once victorious, slaughtered its inhabitants to the last man, plundered their property, and carried off whomever they fancied among their womenfolk. They then turned toward Marāgha, where they found an abundance of fruit and ate their fill. A severe pestilence struck them, killing most of their number. Whenever one of them died they buried his weapons and money with him, which the Muslims would later take. Marzbān ibn Muḥammad advanced against them, fought them, and slew many more in addition to those who had succumbed to the epidemic; thus Allah purified those lands of them.
In Rabīʿ al-Awwal of this year the Domestikos, the king of the Byzantines, came to Raʾs al-ʿAyn (2) with eighty thousand men. He entered the town, plundered it, killed the inhabitants, and carried off about fifteen thousand captives. He stayed there for three days, after which the Bedouin converged upon him from every side and fought him fiercely until he withdrew.
In Jumādā al-Ūlā prices in Baghdad rose sharply, and the rains became so heavy that buildings collapsed and many people perished.