among them, and a plague spread through their ranks, so many of them died. They therefore turned back, just as Allah says:
“And Allah repelled those who disbelieved, in their fury; they gained no advantage. Allah was sufficient for the believers in the fighting, and Allah is Ever-Strong, Almighty.” (al-Ahzab 33:25)
Their plan had been to seize all the surrounding lands, yet they withdrew in utter humiliation.
In the same year the Battle of al-Majāz took place in Sicily. A great host of Byzantines arrived, together with nearly one hundred thousand Franks. The Sicilians appealed to al-Muʿizz the Fatimid for aid, so he dispatched numerous troops by sea. A fierce engagement ensued between the Muslims and the polytheists; both sides stood firm from dawn until the time of ʿAsr. Then the Byzantine commander, Manuel, was killed, whereupon the Byzantines broke and fled in a shameful rout. The Muslims slaughtered multitudes of them, while the Franks stumbled into a deep ravine and most perished. The survivors boarded their ships, but Prince Ahmad, the ruler of Sicily, sent other vessels in pursuit and they killed the greater part of the enemy at sea as well. The Muslims carried off vast spoils of wealth, livestock, goods and weaponry.
Among the booty was a sword bearing the inscription: “This is an Indian sword weighing one hundred and seventy mithqāls; it was often wielded in front of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.” The sword was sent, together with other magnificent gifts, to al-Muʿizz the Fatimid in Ifrīqiyah.
In this year the Qarmaṭah advanced on the city of Tiberias, seeking to seize it from Ibn al-Ikhshīd, the ruler of Egypt and Syria. They asked Sayf ad-Dawlah to supply them with iron from which to fashion weapons, so he tore down for them the iron gates of al-Raqqah—[silent] (1)—[and even collected iron from the populace] (2), taking the merchants’ weights as well, and sent all of it to them, until they said, “That is enough.”
During the same year Muʿizz ad-Dawlah asked the caliph al-Muṭīʿ lillāh for permission to enter the Caliphal Palace to look around. The caliph sent his personal servant and chamberlain with him. They hurried him through the palace, and he emerged fearful of what might befall him, anxious lest he be killed in some corridor. In gratitude to Allah—Exalted is He—for his safety, he gave ten thousand in charity, and from that day his love for the caliph al-Muṭīʿ lillāh increased. Among the marvels he saw there was a bronze idol in the form of an exceedingly beautiful woman, surrounded by smaller idols. It had been brought in the reign of al-Muqtadir and set up so that the slave-girls and women might gaze upon it. Muʿizz thought of asking the caliph for it, but then reconsidered and abandoned the idea (3).
In Dhuʾl-Hijjah of the year 353 AH a man appeared in Kufah, claiming to be an Alid. He kept his face covered and was therefore called al-Mubarraqaʿ (“the Veiled One”). His movement grew serious and his fame spread far and wide. This occurred while Muʿizz ad-Dawlah was away from Baghdad and preoccupied