687) was warned by his astrologers that the horoscope predicted defeat if his 7,000 troops fought Ubayd Allah Ibn Ziyad's 80,000, but again the stars proved wrong when Mukhtar's general defeated Ibn Ziyad at
Nisibin. The caliph Muktafi (902-8), having been repeatedly defeated by the Qarmatians and the remnants of his empire about to vanish, was warned by the court astrologers that if he launched another campaign he would be defeated and his dynasty terminated; but this too was proved wrong, as had been the horoscope cast by Mansur's astrologers at the founding of Baghdad that claimed no caliph would die in the new city, which held true until Mamun (813-33) killed Amin (809-13) in it.
