Riot at the funeral of Bint Abi Nuh and the plunder of the Dar al-Rum church

فتنة جنازة بنت أبي نوح ونهب بيعة دار الروم

c. May 1013 CE · Shawwal 403 AH

In Shawwal 403 the funeral of the wife of al-Munasih's secretary, Abu'l-Haja', was carried out by day, with keening women, drums, horns, monks, crosses and candles. A Hashimite man stoned the procession, and a servant of al-Munasih struck him with a mace and wounded his head; the bier fled into the church of Dar al-Rum, the Muslims pursued it and plundered the church and the houses beside it. A great strife followed: mushafs were raised in the markets, the mosque doors were shut, the caliph's palace was attacked and people stopped Friday prayer. The caliph, in anger, resolved to leave the city, until the secretary of al-Munasih was brought and handed over to the caliphal palace; the common people desisted, and the dhimmis were obliged to wear distinguishing marks ¹.

Depth

At a glance

Era: The Buyid, Fatimid and Seljuk Era
Region: Levant & Iraq
Review: Draft Completeness 1/5 · Help complete it

In time

The Buyid, Fatimid and Seljuk Era

In space

Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph

Overview

In Shawwal 403 the funeral of the vizier al-Munasih's letter-writer Abu'l-Hayja's wife went out by day with wailing-women, drums, pipes, monks, crosses and candles; a Hashimi stoned the bier, one of the vizier's ghilman struck him with a mace. The funeral fled to the church of the Romans' house; the Muslims followed, looted the church and neighboring houses, and a great fitna flared — mushafs raised in the markets, mosque doors shut, the Caliph's palace approached, Friday prayer abstained — until the caliph's courtiers feigned readiness to quit the city in anger, and the vizier's letter-writer was produced ².

Connections

Explore the connections

Located in: Baghdad
Had participant: al-Qadir bi-llah Ahmad ibn Ishaq ibn al-Muqtadir

People and things also explored

The reading of the Qadiri Creed in the Dar al-Khilafa· The death of al-Qadir and the accession of al-Qa'im bi-amr Allah, 422· The Baghdad Attestation on Fatimid Lineage· The Baratha Mosque Affair in 420· Al-Qadir's rescript imposing distinguishing dress on the dhimmis· Al-Qadir bans dealing in Maghrebi dinars· The burning of a codex attributed to Ibn Mas'ud and the Karkh strife· Al-Qadir's order of repentance for the Mu'tazila in Baghdad and Khurasan

Sources

al-Muntazam fi Tarikh al-Muluk wa'l-Umam — Ibn al-Jawzi , j.7 p.261-262
al-Muntazam fi Tarikh al-Muluk wa'l-Umam — Ibn al-Jawzi

Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Riot at the funeral of Bint Abi Nuh and the plunder of the Dar al-Rum church”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/bint-abi-nuh-funeral-riot-403/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-22.

Improve this page on GitHub · Report an error · JSON

Wing

Time

Eras, timelines, this day in history, any year in the Islamic world. Related

The reading of the Qadiri Creed in the Dar al-Khilafa

On Thursday 17 Muharram 409 a book setting out the doctrines of Ahl al-Sunna was read in procession in the Dar al-Khilafa at Baghdad. It stated the creed of the Imam al-Qadir bi'llah, and it was said of it: 'whoever says the Qur'an is created is an unbeliever whose blood may be shed.' al-Qadir confirmed the doctrine of the people of hadith and required people to hold to it in his correspondence and assemblies. In 433 the Qadiri Creed was read in full in the diwan of the Dar al-Mulk, in the presence of the vizier, the shaykhs and the judges. In its margin is the hand of the scholar Abu'l-Hasan Ali ibn Umar al-Qazwini, attesting that he heard all of it in 433, that he concurred in it with the Imam of the Muslims al-Qa'im bi-amr Allah, that it is binding proof against whoever shares his faith, and that he holds to the creed it contains. It is the loftiest thing the state of al-Qa'im published in matters of creed.