Then the year 381 AH⟮1⟯ began.

During it the Caliph al-Tāʾiʿ li-Allāh was arrested and the caliphate was transferred to al-Qādir bi-Allāh, Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn the prince Isḥāq ibn al-Muqtadir bi-Allāh. This took place on Saturday, the nineteenth of Shaʿbān that year. The circumstances were⟮2⟯ that the Caliph was seated, as was his custom, in the portico, while the ruler Bahāʾ al-Dawla sat upon the throne. He then sent someone who dragged the Caliph down from the throne by the scabbard-strap of his sword, wrapped him in a cloak, and carried him off to the treasury of the royal residence. Meanwhile the people busied themselves with plunder, and the majority⟮3⟯ of them did not know what the affair was or what had happened—many even imagined that Bahāʾ al-Dawla himself was the one who had been seized⟮4⟯. The treasuries, the store-houses, and a great part of the furnishings of the Palace of the Caliphate were looted; the very garments of the dignitaries—judges⟮5⟯ and notaries who happened to be in the palace—were stripped from them. A truly momentous event unfolded.

Bahāʾ al-Dawla then returned to his own residence and compelled al-Tāʾiʿ to sign a deed of abdication⟮6⟯. The leading sharifs and judges⟮7⟯ attested that he had renounced the caliphate and handed it over to al-Qādir bi-Allāh, and this was proclaimed in the marketplaces. The Daylamites and the Turks raised a tumult, demanding the customary gratuity for the pledge of allegiance, and they exchanged letters with Bahāʾ al-Dawla about it. The matter dragged on until Friday, and they would not permit an explicit mention of al-Qādir’s name in the pulpit supplication. Instead it was said, “O Allah, set right Your servant and Caliph al-Qādir bi-Allāh,” without naming him outright. Eventually their chiefs and notables were appeased, the oath of allegiance was taken for him, and unanimity was achieved.

Bahāʾ al-Dawla then ordered that everything in the Palace of the Caliphate—vessels, carpets, furnishings, and whatever else it contained—be transferred to his own residence, and he declared it open spoil for high and low alike. The people tore off its doors and windows and defaced its buildings, and the materials were later sold.

All of this took place while al-Qādir bi-Allāh was still in the marshlands, having fled from al-Tāʾiʿ when the latter had sought to seize him. When he set out for Baghdad, the Daylamites barred him from entering until he paid them the pledge gratuity. Numerous protracted altercations arose between them; then they were satisfied⟮8⟯ and he entered Baghdad—a day that became renowned. His flight in the marshlands had lasted