and silver, garments, furnishings, livestock, and innumerable other things that defy calculation or description.
Al-Basasiri and Quraysh ibn Badran then agreed to remove the caliph from Baghdad and deliver him to the emir of Haditha ʿAnah (1), Muharish ibn Mujalli al-Badawi, a cousin of Quraysh ibn Badran. Muharish was a pious and honorable man. When news of this reached the caliph, he pleaded with Quraysh not to take him out of Baghdad, but to no avail. The two of them set him in a litter and, with their escort, conveyed him to Haditha ʿAnah, where he remained with Emir Muharish for a full year, separated from all his family.
It is related that the caliph al-Qaʾim said: “While I was in Haditha ʿAnah I arose one night for prayer and felt in my heart the sweetness of intimate discourse with Allah. I then supplicated Him with whatever words came to mind, saying:
‘O Allah, return me to my homeland, reunite me with my family and my children, make our meeting easy, restore the garden of companionship in bloom and the courtyard of closeness in prosperity, for solace has grown scarce and concealment has been laid bare.’
I heard a voice on the bank of the Euphrates saying, ‘Yes, yes.’ I supposed it was a man addressing another, and I resumed my pleading and entreaty. Then I heard that same caller say, ‘In one year, in one year.’ I realized it was a heavenly voice that Allah had caused to speak the decree—and so it was: I left the caliphal palace in Dhu al-Qaʿdah of that year and returned to it in Dhu al-Qaʿdah of the following year.”
During his stay at Haditha the caliph composed poetry describing his plight, among it:
My hopes (2) in those I trusted have been dashed, … and never again (3) does remembrance of the one I served ease my mind.
All have learned from the twists of time; I see no one who shows kindness to another.
He also said:
I have from the days only an appointed time; … when shall I see success at that appointment?
My day passes, and when it ends I soothe myself with talk of tomorrow.
I live (4) with a soul that takes comfort in hopes; at every dawn and dusk it resumes its desires.
As for al-Basasiri and what he undertook in Baghdad: on the Day of Eid al-Adha he rode out, having dressed the preachers and muezzins in white, as were he and his followers. Above him fluttered the Mustansirite standards and the Egyptian pennons, and the khuṭbah was delivered for al-Mustansir, the Fatimid ruler of Egypt. The Rāfiḍa were overjoyed, and throughout the lands of Iraq the call to prayer included ḥayya ʿalā khayr al-ʿamal (Come to the best of deeds). Al-Basasiri exacted a severe vengeance upon the notables of Baghdad, drowning many who had opposed him, while upon others—those who loved and supported him—he lavished stipends and gifts, and he ostentatiously upheld justice.