The fall of Nisibis and the Baghdad riot, 362

In 362 AH the Byzantine hosts entered Nasibin, plundered it and took control of the whole land of Rabi'a. The event had a loud echo in Baghdad itself. ¹

The Byzantines killed many men of Nasibin, took captives from among its women and children, and remained there for some twenty days. A large number of people from those lands arrived in Baghdad. They spread through the mosques, broke the pulpits, stopped the Friday sermon, and tried to attack the palace of the caliph al-Muti' li-Llah, until its gates were shut and the guards shot arrows at them. They addressed him in terms that imputed incapacity to him. ²

The caliph received the people, and a multitude of common people came out, as countless as the grains of sand. Then the state sent an army that defeated the Byzantines, killed a great number of them, and captured their commander and a group of their patricians. The heads of the slain were sent to Baghdad, with a letter to al-Muti' li-Llah announcing the victory. ²