In Dhu al-Ḥijjah of this same year Abū al-Ḥusayn al-Barīdī was executed, crucified, and thereafter burnt. He had come to Baghdad seeking the help of Tūzūn and Abū Jaʿfar ibn Shīrzād against his nephew, and they promised him support; but he soon began to sow discord between Tūzūn and Ibn Shīrzād. When Ibn Shīrzād learnt of this he ordered his imprisonment and beating, then summoned a group of jurists who produced a legal opinion—bearing their signatures—declaring his blood licit. Armed with this fatwa, Ibn Shīrzād commanded that he be killed, crucified, and finally burnt. Thus the Barīdīs’ days were finished, their power obliterated—may Allah never again unite them.

During this year al-Mustakfī billāh removed al-Qāhir— the former caliph whose eyes had been gouged out—from the Caliphal Palace and lodged him in the house of Ibn Ṭāhir. He had been reduced to beggary, possessing no clothing save the inner lining of a tattered cloak (1) which he wrapped around himself; on his feet he had nothing but a wooden clog.

In Rajab of the same year Muʿizz al-Dawlah marched against Wāsiṭ to besiege it. News of this reached Tūzūn, who set out with al-Mustakfī. When Muʿizz al-Dawlah heard of their approach he withdrew to his own lands. The caliph then entered the city, placed it under the guarantee of Abū al-Qāsim ibn Abī ʿAbd Allāh, and Tūzūn in turn made him responsible for it. Tūzūn and the caliph returned to Baghdad in Shawwāl of that year.

That same year Sayf al-Dawlah ʿAlī ibn Abī al-Hayjāʾ ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥamdān rode to Aleppo and received it from Yaʾnis al-Muʾnasī. He then advanced on Ḥimṣ; the armies of the Ikhshīd, Muḥammad ibn Ṭughj, together with his freedman Kāfūr, confronted him. They fought, Kāfūr al-Ikhshīdī was routed, and Sayf al-Dawlah captured Ḥimṣ. He next rode to Damascus and besieged it, but its people did not open the gates to him, so he withdrew. The Ikhshīd pursued him with heavy forces, and the two armies met (2) at Qinṣarīn without either side gaining the upper hand. Sayf al-Dawlah returned to al-Jazīrah, then came back to Aleppo, where his rule became firmly established. The Byzantines then advanced against him with a great host; he engaged them (3), defeated them, and slew many of them.

[Then the year 334 AH began.]

In Muḥarram of that year the caliph added to his style the epithet Imām al-Ḥaqq (Leader of the Truth), had it struck on the coinage, and the preachers proclaimed it from the pulpits on Fridays.

In the same month of Muḥarram Tūzūn the Turk died in his house in Baghdad after an emirate lasting two years, four months, and ten days. Ibn Shīrzād—his secretary—was at Hīt collecting revenues; when the news reached him he intended to convene the oath of allegiance.