And their pacts and covenants were renewed with him. He saw from their abundance and the impregnability of their city that it made him fear they would turn away from him. So he ordered them to come to the mosque without weapons. Then he ordered his companions to kill them. And they did so for several days. Then they entered the city and killed extensively in it, until the number of the slain reached fifteen thousand.

And among what is narrated is that he buried a group of his companions alive by agreement, so that they would speak from openings in their graves and testify to the truth of the Mahdi and inform of the bliss they were experiencing. And he gave them generously. So he poured earth over them so that their news would not spread.

And among what is narrated is that terrible incident known as "the Distinction," the essence of which is that the Mahdi, before the attack on Marrakech, wanted to distinguish his ranks and purify them of hypocrites. So he agreed with Al-Wansharisi, one of his companions, on a stratagem, claiming that he had received a secret revelation that distinguished the good people from the evil people. So people were presented to him, and he would bring out a group to his right, claiming they were of the people of Paradise, and bring out a group to his left, claiming they were of the people of Hellfire. They were then taken for execution, and they were only among those who doubted that the Imam was the known Mahdi. The number of the slain, according to Ibn Athir, was seventy thousand. When the scholars present objected to this, he said: "And the cross."

And see: Ibn al-Qattan, *Nathm al-Juman*: 8/296 - Ibn Athir, *Al-Kamil* (30) 94. This incident was narrated with some downplaying, where it was indicated that the people of Tinmel might have been plotting something against the Mahdi. When this was discovered, he did what he did.

See: Ibn Taymiyyah, *Majmu' al-Fatawa*: (31) 11/477 - Al-Harawi, *Raud al-Qirtas*: 78 - Ibn Abi Zar', *Kitab al-Ansab*: 77-76. See: Ibn al-Qattan, *Nathm al-Juman*: (33) 97-102. - Al-Baidhaq, *Akhbar al-Mahdi*: 71. - Ibn 'Adhara, *A Piece Published in Hespress*: 82-83. And Ibn Athir, *Al-Kamil*: 8/297. And Ibn Taymiyyah, *Majmu' al-Fatawa*: 2/93-94. And Al-Nuwayri, *Nihayat al-Arab*: 11/478. He combined this incident with the incident of those whom the Mahdi buried alive to make it a single story.