Nuh, given notice of the plot, arrived at a banquet held to organize the assassination, and seized and killed the leader of the plotters.

In 947 Ibrahim gained control of Bukhara and crowned himself as ruler of the Samanid Empire, forcing Nuh to flee to Samarkand.

Ibrahim, however, proved to be unpopular in the city, enabling Nuh to capture and blind his uncle as well as two of his brothers.

Nuh removed Abu 'Ali from the governorship of Khurasan a second time after receiving a complaint from Vushmgir, the Ziyarid ruler of Tabaristan.

The Ziyarids, along with the Samanids, and the Buyids subsequently fought over the region for the next few years, each side gaining temporary control of the area several times.