The Siege of al-Mahdiyya by Abu Yazid

Ibn al-Athir reports that in 333 AH Abu Yazid Makhlad ibn Kaydad, the Man of the Donkey, besieged the Fatimid caliph al-Qa'im in al-Mahdiyya. ¹

When the Sanhaja and Kutama prepared to support al-Qa'im, Abu Yazid grew afraid and moved toward al-Mahdiyya. He camped fifteen miles from it and sent out his raiding parties. Kutama and al-Qa'im's men agreed to come out against him, but he surprised them. His son reached him with a force from Qayrawan, and he defeated them and pursued them to Bab al-Fath. ¹

In Jumada al-Akhira he advanced, crossed the wall and looked over the city until he reached its gate, near the prayer ground for the Eid. Then Ziri ibn Manad arrived with the Sanhaja, and Abu Yazid was bewildered. He moved to Tarfawda and dug a trench around his camp. ¹

A great multitude gathered to him from Ifriqiya, the Berbers, Nafusa, al-Zab and the far Maghrib. He besieged al-Mahdiyya tightly and prevented people from entering and leaving. He made four assaults between Jumada al-Akhira and Shawwal. ¹

The hardship on the people of al-Mahdiyya grew until they ate the beasts and carrion. al-Qa'im opened the granaries of al-Mahdi and distributed what was in them among his men. The narrator says that the Berbers killed anyone who came out and slit his belly in search of gold, until no inhabited place or raised roof remained in Ifriqiya. ¹

The Gregorian conversion is derived. An additional source is needed to confirm the date.