We have already given his biography and the verses attributed to him, together with the reply composed by the eminent Imām, Abū Muḥammad Ibn Ḥazm, the Ẓāhirī jurist (1) – may Allah have mercy on him.

Among those who also died that same year, according to Ibn Khallikān (2), was Kāfūr al-Ikhshīdī.

[Then the year 357 AH began.]

During this year a rumour spread in Baghdad and other regions that a man calling himself Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh, styled “al-Mahdī,” had appeared. He claimed to be the promised figure mentioned in the hadith about the Mahdī, asserting that he commanded good and forbade evil. Supporters in Baghdad promoted him: when addressing a Sunnī they said, “He is of ʿAbbāsid stock,” but if their audience was Shīʿī they told him, “He is an ʿAlid.” At that time the claimant was residing in Egypt with Kāfūr al-Ikhshīdī, who treated him graciously. Among those who responded to his call was the chamberlain Subuktekin, himself a Shīʿī, who therefore assumed the man was an ʿAlid. Subuktekin wrote inviting him to Baghdad, promising to secure the provinces for him. The pretender left Egypt and met Subuktekin near al-Anbār; the moment Subuktekin saw him he recognised him as Muḥammad, son of the deposed ʿAbbāsid caliph al-Mustakfī bi-llāh. Realising that he was ʿAbbāsid, not ʿAlid, Subuktekin at once withdrew his support. The claimant’s followers scattered, and he was carried off to ʿIzz al-Dawla ibn Muʿizz al-Dawla, who granted him amān (safe-conduct) and then handed him over to the caliph al-Muṭīʿ li-llāh. The caliph had his nose cut off, after which he disappeared from sight and nothing further was ever heard of him.

That same year a contingent of the Byzantines – may Allah curse them – raided the territory of Antioch. They massacred many inhabitants of the surrounding towns, carried off twelve thousand captives, and returned home without meeting any resistance.

The Rāfiḍites held mourning ceremonies on ʿĀshūrāʾ and celebrated with joy and festivity on the day of Ghadīr Khumm.

In Tishrīn (October) of this year the ailment known as dāʾ al-māsharā struck the populace; many people died of it suddenly. To Allah we belong and to Him we return.

That same year most of the pilgrims’ camels died of thirst on the road, so that only a few caravans reached Mecca, and even of those, the majority were unable to perform the ḥajj that year. To Allah we belong and to Him we return.

During the year Abū al-Maʿālī Sharīf ibn Sayf al-Dawla fought his maternal uncle – who was also his father’s cousin – the poet Abū Firās ibn Saʿīd ibn Ḥamdān, near a village called Ṣadad. Abū Firās was killed in the engagement.

Ibn al-Athīr comments: “How true is the saying, ‘Kingship is barren’” (3).