The return of al-Qa'im from Haditha to Baghdad

In 451 AH the caliph al-Qa'im bi-Amr Allah recovered his capital a full year after al-Basasiri had taken Baghdad. His host, Muharhish al-Uqayli, lord of al-Hadītha, had kept faith with him and refused the demand of Qurayish ibn Badran that he be expelled. ¹

When Tughril reached Baghdad, Amid al-Mulk sent three hundred ghulams with fourteen Bactrian camels bearing the pavilion and furnishings, six mules carrying garments, and a mule with a curtained litter. The caliph was moved from al-Hadītha to the pavilion at al-Nahrawan. When the sultan's eyes fell on the pavilion, he dismounted, walked to it, entered, and kissed the ground seven times. The caliph took from his robe a large ruby mountain that had belonged to the Buyids, and twelve large pearls, and threw them before him. Tughril excused his delay by the rebellion of his brother Ibrahim, whom he had strangled with his bowstring, and said: "God willing, I shall go after this dog, meaning al-Basasiri, and hunt him down." The caliph girded him with a sword that lay beside him, saying that when he left he had saved nothing with him but this sword. The caliph entered the city on Monday, with five days of Dhu al-Qa'da remaining. The sultan advanced to the Nawbi gate and sat in the chamberlain's place on his bench until the caliph arrived, with the army attending him. No one in Baghdad came to receive him except the chief judge and three witnesses, because people had fled. It so happened that the caliph left his house on Tuesday, 18 January, and al-Basasiri was killed on Tuesday, 18 January of the following year, a curious coincidence. ²