—and the people of Tarsus and al-Massisa had already been stricken, even before this calamity, by a dreadful famine and a severe plague, with three hundred of them dying each day. Then this new disaster descended upon them, so they passed from one martyrdom to an even greater one. The Byzantine emperor planned to stay on in Tarsus so as to be closer to Muslim territory, but he reconsidered and marched to Constantinople, accompanied by al-Dumastaq, the Armenian king—may Allah curse them both.
That year he entrusted the task of dispatching the pilgrims to the naqib of the Talibids, issuing for him a deed confirming both the naqibate and oversight of the pilgrims. The man in question was Abu Ahmad al-Hasan ibn Musa al-Musawi (1), the father of al-Sharif al-Radi and al-Sharif al-Murtada.
In the same year the sister of Muʿizz al-Dawla died. The caliph boarded a state barge (2) and went to present his condolences; Muʿizz al-Dawla kissed the ground before him and thanked him for the trouble he had taken and for his acts of charity toward him.
On the eighteenth of Dhu al-Hijjah, the Rawafid celebrated the festival of Ghadir Khumm in the accustomed manner already described (3).
During this year a man named Rashiq al-Nasimi, aided by someone called Ibn al-Ahwazi, gained control of Antioch. Ibn al-Ahwazi, who leased the city’s mills, supplied him with funds and tempted him with the prospect of capturing Antioch, saying that Sayf al-Dawla was tied up in Mayyafariqin and unable to return to Aleppo. Matters turned out just as they had hoped: they took Antioch and then, with troops from the city, marched on Aleppo. Great battles were fought between them and Sayf al-Dawla’s deputy; they captured the town while the deputy withdrew into the citadel. Reinforcements from Sayf al-Dawla then reached Aleppo, led by his page Bisharah. Rashiq was routed, fell from his horse, and was cut down by some Bedouins, who severed his head and brought it to Aleppo. Ibn al-Ahwazi slipped away to Antioch, where he installed a Byzantine (4) named Wazir, styling him “the emir,” and set up another man from the Alids as his lieutenant, styling him “the ustadh.” Qarghuyah, the governor of Aleppo, marched against him; a fierce engagement followed in which Ibn al-Ahwazi defeated him and remained in control of Antioch. When Sayf al-Dawla returned to Aleppo he spent only a single night there before heading for Antioch. [Ibn al-Ahwazi confronted him] (5) and a tremendous battle was fought. Wazir and Ibn al-Ahwazi were routed, captured, and executed by Sayf al-Dawla ibn Hamdan (6).
That same year a Qarmati named Marwan—formerly charged with guarding the roads for Sayf al-Dawla—rebelled in Homs, seized it and the surrounding countryside, and was confronted by an army from Aleppo under the emir Badr. They fought, and Badr shot him with a poisoned arrow, wounding him,