On receiving this answer Mohammed resolved to strip the Abbasids of the succession, or Kalifat. To do this he must obtain first a sanctioning fetva from Mohammedan theologians (the Ulema). So he proposed to that body the following questions: “May a monarch whose entire glory consists in exalting God’s word and destroying the foes of true faith, depose a recalcitrant Kalif, and replace him by one who is deserving, if the Kalifat belongs by right to descendants of Ali, and if the Abbasids have usurped it, and if besides they have always omitted one among the first duties, the duty of protecting the boundaries of Islam, and waging sacred wars to bring unbelievers to the true faith, or, if they will not accept the true faith, to pay tribute?” The Ulema declared that in such cases deposition was justified. Armed with this decision the Shah recognized Ali ul Muluk of Termed, a descendant of Ali, as Kalif, and ordered that in public prayers the name of Nassir be omitted. The Shah assembled an army to carry out the sentence against Nassir. Ogulmush, a Turk general who had subdued Persian Irak and then rendered fealty to Mohammed, was murdered at direction of the Kalif, under whose control a number of Assassins had been placed by their chieftain at Alamut. In Persian Irak the name of the Shah was dropped from public prayers, after the slaying of Ogulmush. The princes of Fars and Azerbaidjan hastened promptly to seize upon Irak, at the instance of Nassir. Sád, prince of Fars, was taken captive, but secured freedom by ceding two strongholds, and promising the third of his annual income as tribute. Euzbek of Azerbaidjan fled after defeat, and the Shah would not pursue, as the capture of two rulers in the space of one year was unlucky. Euzbek, on reaching home, sent envoys with presents, and proclaimed himself a vassal. Mohammed annexed Irak to the Empire, and moved his troops on toward Bagdad. Nassir sent words of peace to his enemy, but those words had no influence, and the march continued. Nassir strove to strengthen Bagdad and defend it, while Mohammed was writing diplomas, which turned Arabian Irak, that whole land of which Bagdad was the capital, into military fiefs and tax-paying districts. The Shah’s vanguard, fifteen thousand strong, advanced toward Heulvan by the way of the mountains, and was followed soon by a second division of the same strength. Though the time was early autumn, snow fell for twenty days in succession, the largest tents were buried under it; men and horses died in great numbers, both when they were marching through those mountains and when they halted. A retreat was commanded at last when advance was impossible. Turks and Kurds then attacked the retreating forces so savagely that the ruin of the army was well nigh total. This was attributed by Sunnite belief to Divine anger for that impious attack on the person of the Kalif.