• Mawdūd ibn Masʿūd ibn Maḥmūd ibn Subuktikīn (1), ruler of Ghazna, died in the course of this year; after him authority passed to his uncle ʿAbd al-Rashīd ibn Maḥmūd ibn Subuktikīn. Allah knows best.

[Then the year 443 AH began.]

In Safar of that year war erupted between the Rafidites and the Sunnis, and countless people on both sides were killed. The cause was that the Rafidites had erected towers on which they inscribed in gold: “Muḥammad and ʿAlī are the best of humankind; whoever is pleased, let him give thanks, and whoever refuses has disbelieved.” The Sunnis objected to coupling ʿAlī with the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—in this manner, so fighting broke out and continued until Rabīʿ al-Awwal. A Hashimite man was killed and buried near Imām Aḥmad. When the Sunnis returned from his burial they plundered the shrine of Mūsā ibn Jaʿfar, set it ablaze, and burned the mausoleum of Mūsā and Muḥammad al-Jawād, the tombs of the Būyid kings, and the graves of the ministers buried there. The graves of Jaʿfar ibn al-Manṣūr, Muḥammad al-Amīn, his mother Zubaydah, and a great many other tombs [indeed very many] also burned. The turmoil spread and exceeded all bounds.

The Rafidites in turn perpetrated many outrages: they burned large quarters of the city, scattered ancient graves, and burned the remains of pious people buried there. They even intended to attack the grave of Imām Aḥmad, but the naqīb (head of the Prophet’s household) stopped them, fearing the consequences.

A brigand of the ʿayyār class named al-Qaṭīʿī (2) then set upon the Rafidites, hunting down their leaders and notables and killing them both openly and by ambush. Because of him the ordeal became exceedingly severe; no one could lay hands on him, for he was extraordinarily brave, fierce, and cunning. When the news reached Dubays ibn ʿAlī ibn Mazyad—himself a Rafidite—he discontinued the Friday sermon for the caliph al-Qāʾim bi-Amr Allah, but after negotiations he restored it.

In Ramaḍān gifts arrived from Sultan Ṭughril Beg to the caliph, in gratitude for the robes of investiture and diploma the caliph had sent him. He forwarded twenty thousand dinars to the caliph, five thousand to the courtiers, and two thousand to the Chief of Chiefs. While rebuilding Rayy, Ṭughril Beg had demolished certain areas in order to refurbish them and had discovered many hidden treasures of gold and jewels; this greatly enhanced his prestige and strengthened his rule.

[Among the notable deaths that year]

• Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad (3), Abū al-Ḥasan, the poet al-Buṣrawī, so called after a village just below ʿUkbarā named Buṣray (4), which bears the name of the city that is the capital of Ḥawrān.