[5]: 359–362  In 1016, the Daylamite military officer Ibn Fuladh expelled Ala al-Dawla from Isfahan, but he shortly managed to regain control of the city.

The fragility of Majd al-Dawla's kingdom later encouraged Muhammad to extend his domains in the Kurdish held mountains of Iran.

Five years later, Ala al-Dawla won a great victory over his rivals at Nihawand, and managed to capture the Bavandid ruler Abu Ja'far Muhammad including his two sons.

He was later personally awarded, and without the intervention of the Buyids, from the Abbasid caliph Al-Qadir, the title of "Husam Amir al-mu'manin" (Sword of the commander of the faithful).

Mas'ud I, the son of the Ghaznavid sultan, who wanted to liberate the Abbasids from Buyid control, proceeded further into western Iran, where he defeated various rulers, including Ala al-Dawla, who fled to Ahvaz to seek help from the Buyids, but he quickly made peace with the Ghaznavids and returned as their vassal, where he accepted to pay an annual tribute of 200,000 dinars.

Ala al-Dawla was a great military commander who managed to protect his kingdom from its neighbors, including the Buyids, Ghaznavids and Seljuqs.