seventy ratls of jewels—each individual gem of enormous worth—.

After his death the reins of rule passed to his son Muḥammad; the kingship then devolved upon another of his sons, Masʿūd ibn Maḥmūd, who closely resembled his father. One of the scholars composed a full volume on Masʿūd’s life, memorable days, legal decisions, conquests, and domains, and it is of considerable benefit.

Then came the year 422 AH.
• In that year al-Qādir billāh died and his son al-Qāʾim billāh succeeded him, as will be detailed presently.
• That same year a fierce conflict broke out between the Sunnis and the Rawāfiḍ; the Sunnis prevailed, killing many of them, and they sacked al-Karkh along with the residence of al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍā. The populace also plundered the houses of the Jews on the allegation that they had aided the Rawāfiḍ of al-Karkh, and the pillage spread to many other dwellings. [The turmoil became widespread before it finally subsided; in that year, too, coin-striking multiplied.]
• The trial of the ʿayyārīn brigands likewise swept across the city. Emboldened, they robbed houses and other places both openly and in secret, night and day—there is no might and no power except with Allah, the Most High, the Most Great.

The Caliphate of al-Qāʾim billāh, Abū Jaʿfar ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Qādir billāh

He was invested with the caliphate after the death of his father al-Qādir billāh—Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq ibn al-Muqtadir billāh ibn al-Muʿtaḍid, son of the amir Abū Aḥmad al-Muwaffaq ibn al-Mutawakkil ibn al-Muʿtaṣim ibn al-Rashīd ibn al-Mahdī ibn al-Manṣūr—who passed away on the night of Monday, 11 Dhu al-Ḥijjah of this year, aged eighty-six years, ten months, and twenty-one days. No caliph before or after lived so long. Of that span, forty-one years and three months were spent as caliph—again, a tenure unmatched by any other. His mother was an umm walad named Tamannī, formerly the servant of ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn al-Muqtadir.

May Allah have mercy on him: he was forbearing and generous, devoted to scholars, people of religion, and the righteous. He enjoined what is right and forbade what is wrong; he adhered to the creed of the early generations and authored treatises on the subject that were read publicly. Fair-skinned and well-built, he wore a long, broad beard, which he dyed. He rose for prayer at night, gave abundant charity, loved the sunnah and its followers, and detested innovation and its partisans. He fasted frequently and shared the food of his ifṭār with the poor, sending portions to the residents of the Two Sanctuaries as well as to the Manṣūr and Ruṣāfa mosques. Disguised in ordinary dress, he would leave his house to visit the graves of the righteous. A substantial part of his biography was already related under the year 381 AH.

Seven days of mourning were observed for him because of the magnitude of the loss and to affirm the pledge of allegiance to his son al-Qāʾim billāh, Abū Jaʿfar ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Qādir billāh. His mother was Qaṭr al-Nadā, an Armenian who lived to see his caliphate. He was born on Friday, 18 Dhu al-Qaʿda 391 AH, and his bayʿa was sworn in the presence of the judges, commanders, grandees, and notables. The first to pledge allegiance was al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍā, who recited before him a magnificent ode of which: