The Yemeni army's sack of Mecca (620 AH)

In 620 AH al-Malik al-Mas'ud Atsiz, lord of Yemen, marched to Mecca, whose lord at that time was al-Hasan ibn Qatada. His army plundered the city until the afternoon. ²

Ibn al-Athir says that al-Hasan had treated badly the notables and mamluks who had belonged to his father, and they dispersed from him. He quotes some of the residents that the army took the clothes off the people and made them poor. ²

The lord of Yemen ordered the grave of Qatada dug up and burned. The coffin appeared before the people and they found nothing in it, so they knew that al-Hasan had buried his father in secret. Ibn al-Athir says that al-Hasan had killed his father, his brother and his uncle in pursuit of power, and he comments on this as the severing of kinship. This is Ibn al-Athir's own comment. ²