The Arabian garrison of Bokhara, with the few which remained true to Islam, soon felt itself too weak against the number and fanaticism of their far superior enemy. Aid was sent from Bagdad under the command of Djebrailo bin Yahya; and the well fortified place, Narshakh, which was a residence of the Sefiddjamegan, was first attacked. After a close and vain siege the walls could only so far be damaged as to allow a ditch that was fifty yards long to be filled with wood and naphtha: this they fired, and the cross beams of the wall became consumed, and the whole mass without support fell. With sword in hand the Mohamedans rushed into the fortress, many were massacred, many yielded under the condition of retreating with their arms. The fortress was evacuated, yet when the Sefiddjamegan heard that their commanders were put to death in a traitorous fashion, they themselves took up arms in the enemy's camp. A fresh contest arose, in which the Arabs conquered, and the supporters of Mokanna were partly destroyed, partly put to flight. After Narshakh, Samarkand had to be forced, the inhabitants of which, in great part, were known to belong to the new sect. The sieges and battles of these places lasted more than two years (because a great number of the Turks had joined the Samarkanders without any result being obtained). Mokanna, the mysterious prophet, kept himself during this period always in his fortress, attended by one hundred of the loveliest women of Transoxiana. The interior of the castle was kept only for these with himself and one male page; besides these was no earthly eye permitted to penetrate into his sanctuary. They say that 50,000 of his followers lay at the gate of the fortress, and earnestly implored him to show but once his god-like splendour. He refused, sent his page with the message:--"Say to my servants that Musa (Moses) also wished to see my godhead, but the beams of my splendour he could not support. My glance kills instantly the earth-born." The enthusiastic adherents assured him that they would gladly offer their lives as a sacrifice if this high enjoyment was allowed to them. When he could not furthermore deny them, Mokanna consented to their entreaty, and appointed them to come at a certain time before the gate of the fortress, where he promised to show himself. On the evening of the appointed day he ordered that his women should be placed in a line, with looking-glasses in their hands, as the beams of the setting sun were reflected in the looking-glasses, and when everything was illuminated by that reflection, he ordered them to open the doors. The splendour blinded the eyes of his devoted adherents, who fell prostrate, and called out,--"God! enough for us of thy glory, for if we see it more all will be destroyed!" They lay long in the dust supplicating him, until at length he sent his page with the message:--"God is pleased with you, and he has given you for your use the good of all the world."