Ráfi' soon informed the Ispahbad Rustam that he had no intention of observing his new treaty with the Sayyid, and, on Rustam’s allying himself with 'Amr b. Layth, proceeded to seize him and put him in bonds, confiscated all his property, extorted large sums of money from his retainers, and gave his country to Abú Naṣr-i-Ṭabarí. In Ramaḍán, A. H. 282 (= October—November, A. D. 895) Rustam died in his bondage.

In this year the Sayyid Muḥammad b. Zayd gave money to Ráfi' to induce him to adopt the white badge and standard of the 'Alawís, and to exact from the men of Gurgán, Dihistán (f. 122b) and Jájarm the oath of allegiance to him; while he on his part sent the Sayyid a share of Rustam’s plundered possessions. A quarrel now arose between Muḥammad b. Wahsúdán and 'Alí b. Surkháb, and the former, having killed some of the latter’s men, went to Kílárján, and was reported to have cast off his allegiance. Ráfi' again marched against 'Amr b. Layth, but was again defeated, and fled to Khwárazm, the inhabitants of which city, having an ancient grudge against him, seized him, cut off his head, and sent it to 'Amr b. Layth, who sent it on to the Caliph. After this all Ṭabaristán from Gurgán to Gílán became the Sayyid’s secure possession. In A. H. 282 (A. D 895—6) news arrived that Ismá'íl b. Aḥmad the Sámánid had captured 'Amr b. Layth and put him to death, and the Sayyid was now freed from all anxiety; but just as his power, glory, fame and good repute seemed to be at their height, calamity befel him, even as the poet says: