station. According to the diary of Abu Ali ibn al-Banna, the dismissal was on Tuesday, 9 September 1068. Fakhr ad-Dawla was "despondent and apologetic" and "acquiesced in tears". He was escorted out of Baghdad on Thursday night (11 September) and ended up traveling to the court of the Banu Mazyad ruler Nur ad-Dawla Dubays. His belongings were later sent to him. The competition to replace Fakhr ad-Dawla as vizier was fierce. Three different candidates were seriously considered, but none of them successfully took office as vizier. The caliph's initial choice was Abu Ya'la, father of Abu Shuja al-Rudhrawari, but he died on 11 September - before Fakhr ad-Dawla had even left Baghdad. Another early front-runner was the za'im Ibn Abd ar-Rahim, who was sent a letter to inform him of his selection to the vizierate before someone brought his sordid past to the caliph's attention: he had been part of al-Basasiri's entourage during his rebellion in 1058, and he had taken part in looting the caliph's palace and "attacking" the women of the harem. His name was immediately removed from contention. At this point, around mid-late November, Ibn al-Banna wrote that a rumor had started to go around that al-Qa'im would reinstate Fakhr ad-Dawla as vizier. At some point, another candidate, a Hanbali named Abu'l-'Ala', was considered, but he never took office. Meanwhile, Nur ad-Dawla Dubays had been making "entreaties to the caliph" on Fakhr ad-Dawla's behalf. Eventually, Fakhr ad-Dawla was brought back to serve as vizier. A group of administrative officials went out to meet with him on Sunday, 7 December, in advance of his return to Baghdad. Ibn al-Banna's diary gives the date of his reentry to Baghdad as Wednesday, 10 December 1068. Crowds came to watch and he was "met by the troops, the courtiers, and the leading figures". Vizieral robes of honor were made ready for him on 29 December, and they were bestowed upon him on Wednesday, 31 December. People went to congratulate him the next day. Then on Friday, 2 January 1069, he went on horseback to the Jami al-Mansur in the robes of honor; again, crowds gathered to see him, and in some places they "sprinkled" coins on him. Al-Qa'im does not seem to have held a grudge against Fakhr ad-Dawla and entrusted him and his son Amid ad-Dawla with a wide range of duties. Sometime around 1071, there was a "diplomatic fracas"