In this year, Caliph al-Muʿtamid appointed Yaʿqūb b. Layth as governor over regions such as Balkh, Ṭukhāristān, Kirmān, Sijistān, and Sind, which were attached to these territories.
In the month of Ṣafar of this year, Caliph al-Muʿtamid made his brother Abū Aḥmad responsible for the oversight of Kūfa, Mecca, Medina, Yemen, the districts attached to these, and the route to Mecca, granting him the authority to appoint governors there. In the month of Ramaḍān of this year, he transferred to himself the authority to appoint governors over Baghdad, the Sawād of Iraq, Wāsiṭ, the Tigris region, Basra, Ahwaz, and Fars.
In this year, the ḥājib (chamberlain) Saʿīd and the leader of the Zanj, an ʿAlid, encountered each other in the region of Basra. Ḥājib Saʿīd defeated him, rescued the captives in his possession, and recovered a large amount of wealth and money from him. He also greatly humiliated the Zanj who had gathered in the area. Later, the Zanj launched a night raid against Saʿīd, killing most of his soldiers. According to one narration, Saʿīd b. Ṣāliḥ himself was also killed in this incident. Afterwards, these Zanj fought against Manṣūr b. Jaʿfar al-Khayyāṭ and his large army. Their leader, who claimed to be a descendant of the Prophet (a Ṭālibī) but was in fact a liar, defeated Manṣūr's army.
He routed them.
Ibn Jarīr said: In this year, in the district of Barakat al-Zalzāl in Baghdad, a man was caught who had strangled and killed many women. He would first have relations with the women, then strangle them, and plunder their jewelry and money. He was captured and brought before al-Muʿtamid. There, he was flogged 2,400 times. The executioners did not kill him until they struck his testicles with a special stick unique to them. When they struck his testicles with a stick made of hard wood, he died. Then he was taken to Baghdad, hanged there, and after hanging for some time, his body was taken down and burned.
On the night of the 14th of Shawwāl of this year, there was a lunar eclipse. Most of the moon became invisible. On the morning of that day, the men of the wicked Zanj forcefully entered Basra, killing most of its inhabitants. The governor of Basra, Bughrāk, and his companions fled. The Zanj burned the Basra mosque and many houses. Their soldiers plundered the goods and property there. After this, one of the Zanj and Khārijite men, Ibrāhīm b. Muhallabī, made a loud proclamation: "Whoever seeks amān (safe-conduct), let him come here!" Many of the people of Basra gathered around him. He saw this as an opportunity, betrayed them, and ordered their killing. A few managed to escape, but many were killed. The Zanj had encircled a group of Basrans. At that moment, they were signaling to each other to kill certain individuals and reaching for their swords. But the Zanj leader, distracted by the dying men's recitation of the shahāda (testimony of faith) and the laughter and shouting of his own men, did not notice what they were doing. "Indeed, we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we will return." (al-Baqara 2:156)
The rebels continued these evil deeds throughout Basra for several days. These were most inauspicious days. The people fled in all directions before them. Each went his own way. The oppressors set fire to the grain and other crops they had piled between the mountains. All the animals, people, and other possessions belonging to the Basrans were burned to ashes in this fire. The Great Mosque was also burned. Many notables, men of letters, virtuous people, hadith scholars, and scholars were killed.
Innā lillāh wa innā ilayhi rājiʿūn (Indeed, we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we will return).
This vile man also brought great calamities upon the people of Fars. Later, he heard that a large supply of provisions had arrived for the Basrans. While the Basrans had previously suffered from a shortage of provisions, they now found relief. When he heard that supplies had arrived for them, he became envious.
According to the narration of Ibn Jarīr, a man who heard him reported that this Khārijite Zanj said: "I cursed the Basrans. Then a voice came to me, though its owner was unseen, saying: 'The Basrans are for you like a loaf of bread broken off at the edge for you to eat. If half the bread breaks, Basra will be destroyed.' After hearing this voice, I interpreted the breaking of the bread as the eclipse of the moon." His words circulated among his men. Eventually, just as he said, the moon was indeed eclipsed. Undoubtedly, he had a jinn who informed him of such things. Similarly, Musaylima al-Kadhdhāb also had such a jinn.
During the Zanj attack on the Basrans, this vile Khārijite said to his men: "This morning, I supplicated to Allah, cursing the Basrans. The city of Basra was raised up between heaven and earth and shown to me. I saw the Basrans fighting, and the angels siding with my men against them. I was victorious over the Basrans, and the angels fought alongside me. My soldiers remained steadfast and supported me in my battles!"
When the ʿAlids in Basra came to him, he then claimed descent from Yaḥyā b. Zayd. But his claim to be of the lineage of Yaḥyā b. Zayd is certainly false, for after Yaḥyā b. Zayd, only a small nursing girl survived him. May Allah destroy this accursed Khārijite. How great a liar, sinner, and traitor he is!
At the beginning of the month of Dhū al-Qaʿda of this year, the caliph dispatched a large military force under the command of Emir Muḥammad, known as al-Muwallad, to fight the Khārijite leader of the Zanj. On his way, Emir Muḥammad captured Saʿd b. Aḥmad al-Bāhilī, who had terrorized the region of Bataʾiḥ, brought it under his control, and made the roads dangerous. In this year, Muḥammad b. Wāṣil rebelled against the caliph in the region of Fars and seized control there.
In this year, a Greek named Basīl al-Ṣaqlabī, known as a Rūm, attempted an assassination against the Byzantine emperor Michael b. Tofūʾ. He killed him and seized Byzantium. Michael had ruled as emperor in Byzantium for twenty-four years. In this year, Faḍl b. Isḥāq al-ʿAbbāsī led the people in the ḥajj (pilgrimage).