text:
regnal name
Caliph
Abbasid Caliphate
Anarchy at Samarra
al-Muwaffaq
Ahmad ibn Tulun
al-Mu'tadid
al-Mutawakkil
Kufa
patronymic
Turkish
Bayakbak
Yarjukh
regnal name
Anarchy at Samarra
Iraq
Egypt
Ahmad ibn Tulun
Syria
Khurasan
Saffarids
Ya'qub ibn al-Layth
Tahirids
Arabian peninsula
Tabaristan
Zaydi
Shi'a
rebellion
Zanj
Baghdad
Qarmatians
al-Mu'tazz
Mecca
Musa ibn Bugha
Fars
honorific name
al-Muwaffaq bi-Allah
vizier
Ubayd Allah ibn Yahya ibn Khaqan
Sulayman ibn Wahb
Isma'il ibn Bulbul
Sa'id ibn Makhlad
al-Mufawwad ila-llah
Ifriqiya
Jazira
Mosul
Armenia
Mihrajanqadhaq
Hulwan
Battle of Dayr al-'Aqul
al-Mu'tadid
gold dinars
mawlā
amīr al-muʾminīn
Cilicia
Thughur
Byzantine Empire
Damascus
Ishaq ibn Kundaj
al-Haditha
Euphrates
Wasit
Jibal
Hugh N. Kennedy

categories: 840s births,892 deaths,9th-century Abbasid caliphs

paragraph: Al-Mu'tamid

paragraph: Abu’l-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn Jaʿfar (; – 14 October 892), better known by his regnal name al-Muʿtamid ʿalā ’llāh (, "Dependent on God"), was the Caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate from 870 to 892. His reign marks the end of the "Anarchy at Samarra" and the start of the Abbasid restoration, but he was a largely a ruler in name only. Power was held by his brother al-Muwaffaq, who held the loyalty of the military. Al-Mu'tamid's authority was circumscribed further after a failed attempt to flee to the domains controlled by Ahmad ibn Tulun in late 882, and he was placed under house arrest by his brother. In 891, when al-Muwaffaq died, loyalists attempted to restore power to the Caliph, but were quickly overcome by al-Muwaffaq's son al-Mu'tadid, who assumed his father's powers. When al-Mu'tamid died in 892, al-Mu'tadid succeeded him as caliph.

paragraph: Section::::Life.

paragraph: The future al-Mu'tamid was a son of Caliph al-Mutawakkil (r. 847–861) and a Kufan slave girl called Fityan. His full name was Ahmad ibn Abi Jaʿfar, and was also known by the patronymic Abu'l-Abbas and from his mother as Ibn Fityan. After al-Muhtadi was deposed by the Turkish commanders Bayakbak and Yarjukh, he was selected by the military as his successor and proclaimed Caliph with the regnal name "al-Muʿtamid ʿAlā ’llāh" on 16 or 19 June 870. On 21 June, al-Muhtadi was executed.

paragraph: Section::::Life.:Reign and relationship with al-Muwaffaq.

paragraph: The accession of al-Mu'tamid brought an end to the turmoils of the "Anarchy at Samarra", which had begun with the murder of al-Mutawakkil in 861. Caliphal authority in the provinces collapsed during that period, with the result that the central government lost effective control over most of the Caliphate outside the metropolitan region of Iraq. In the west, Egypt had fallen under the control of the ambitious Turkish soldier Ahmad ibn Tulun, who also had designs on Syria, while Khurasan and most of the Islamic East had been taken over by the Saffarids under Ya'qub ibn al-Layth, who replaced the Abbasids' loyal client state, the Tahirids. Most of the Arabian peninsula was likewise lost to local potentates, while in Tabaristan a radical Zaydi Shi'a dynasty took power. Even in Iraq, a rebellion of the Zanj slaves had begun and soon threatened Baghdad itself, while further south the Qarmatians were a nascent threat. In addition, al-Mu'tamid's position was undermined from within, as during the coups of the previous years real power had come to lie with the elite Turkish troops, and with al-Mu'tamid's brother Abu Ahmad Talha, who, as the Caliphate's main military commander, served as the chief intermediary between the caliphal government and the Turks. When Caliph al-Mu'tazz died in 869, there was even popular agitation in Baghdad in favour of his elevation to Caliph.

paragraph: In contrast to his brother, al-Mu'tamid appears to have lacked any experience of, and involvement in, politics, as well as a power base he could rely on. At the time al-Muhtadi was killed by the Turks, Abu Ahmad was at Mecca. Immediately he hastened north to Samarra, where he and Musa ibn Bugha effectively sidelined al-Mu'tamid, and assumed control of the government. Al-Mu'tamid was thus quickly reduced to a figurehead ruler, which remained the case for the remainder of his reign. Within a short time, Abu Ahmad was conferred an extensive governorate covering most of the lands still under caliphal authority: western Arabia, southern Iraq with Baghdad, and Fars. To denote his authority, he assumed an honorific name in the style of the caliphs, "al-Muwaffaq bi-Allah". As one of the few vestiges of actual power, al-Mu'tamid retained the right to appoint his own viziers, originally choosing the experienced Ubayd Allah ibn Yahya ibn Khaqan, who had already served al-Mutawakkil. During his tenure, the Caliph retained some freedom of action, but after his death in 877, he was replaced by al-Muwaffaq's secretary, Sulayman ibn Wahb. Ibn Wahb was soon disgraced and replaced as vizier by Isma'il ibn Bulbul. Real power however lay again with al-Muwaffaq's new secretary, Sa'id ibn Makhlad, until his own disgrace and downfall in 885, after which Ibn Bulbul became the sole vizier to both al-Mu'tamid and al-Muwaffaq.

paragraph: On 20 July 875, al-Mu'tamid formally arranged for the governance of the state and his succession: his underage son Ja'far was given the honorific name "al-Mufawwad ila-llah", was named heir-apparent and assigned the western half of the Caliphate—Ifriqiya, Egypt, Syria, the Jazira and Mosul, Armenia, Mihrajanqadhaq and Hulwan— while al-Muwaffaq received the eastern provinces and was named second heir, except for the event that the Caliph died while al-Mufawwad was still a minor. In practice, al-Mufawwad never exercised any real authority, and al-Muwaffaq continued to exercise control over the western provinces as well through his trusted lieutenant Musa ibn Bugha, who was named al-Mufawwad's deputy. Al-Muwaffaq's power was strengthened by the military threats the Caliphate faced on all fronts, since he commanded the loyalty of the army. In April 876, al-Muwaffaq and Musa ibn Bugha defeated Ya'qub ibn al-Layth's attempt to capture Baghdad at the Battle of Dayr al-'Aqul and saved the Caliphate from collapse. The repulse of the Saffarids then allowed the Abbasids to concentrate their resources in suppressing the Zanj Revolt in the south. The Zanj rebels had managed to capture much of lower Iraq, and inflicted several defeats on the Abbasid troops. In 879, al-Muwaffaq's son Abu'l-Abbas, the future Caliph al-Mu'tadid (r. 892–902), was given the command against the Zanj, and in the next year, al-Muwaffaw himself joined the campaign. In a succession of engagements in the marshes of southern Iraq, the Abbasid forces drove back the Zanj towards their capital, Mukhtara, which fell in August 883.

paragraph: Section::::Life.:Ibn Tulun and al-Mu'tamid's attempted flight to Egypt.

paragraph: At the same time, al-Muwaffaq also had to contend with the ambitions of Ahmad ibn Tulun in the western provinces. Ibn Tulun and the Abbasid regent fell out in 875/6, on the occasion of a large remittance of revenue from Egypt to the central government. Counting on the rivalry between the Caliph and his over-mighty brother to maintain his own position, Ibn Tulun forwarded a larger share of the taxes to al-Mu'tamid instead of al-Muwaffaq: 2.2 million gold dinars went to the Caliph and only 1.2 million dinars to his brother. Al-Muwaffaq, who in his fight against the Zanj considered himself entitled to the major share of the provincial revenues, was angered by this, and by the implied machinations between Ibn Tulun and his brother. Al-Muwaffaq nominated Musa ibn Bugha as governor of Egypt and sent him with troops to Syria, but a lack of funds led to the expedition's failure before even reaching Egypt. In a public gesture of support for al-Mu'tamid and opposition to al-Muwaffaq, Ibn Tulun assumed the title of "Servant of the Commander of the Faithful" ("mawlā amīr al-muʾminīn") in 878. With the support of al-Mu'tamid, in 877/8 Ibn Tulun managed to be assigned responsibility for the entirety of Syria and the Cilician frontier zone (Thughur) with the Byzantine Empire.

paragraph: In 881, Ibn Tulun added his own name to coins issued by the mints under his control, along with those of the Caliph and heir apparent, al-Mufawwad. In the autumn of 882, the Tulunid general Lu'lu' defected to the Abbasids, and the cities of the Thughur rejected Tulunid rule, forcing Ibn Tulun to go once again in person to Syria. Al-Mu'tamid used the moment to escape from his confinement in Samarra, and with a small entourage made for Tulunid domains. Messengers from the Caliph reached Ibn Tulun at Damascus, and the ruler of Egypt halted and awaited the Caliph's arrival with great anticipation: not only would the sole source of political legitimacy in the Muslim world reside under his control, but he would also be able to pose as the "rescuer" of the Caliph from his overreaching brother. In the event, however, Sa'id ibn Makhlad managed to alert the governor of Mosul, Ishaq ibn Kundaj, who overtook and defeated al-Mu'tamid and his escort at al-Haditha on the Euphrates. Al-Mu'tamid was brought back to Samarra (February 883), where he was placed under virtual house arrest in the Jawsak Palace. In May/June, he was even moved south to Wasit, where al-Muwaffaq could keep an eye on him in person. Only in March 884 was the powerless Caliph allowed to return to Samarra. In the meantime, he was obliged to denounce Ibn Tulun, and appoint—nominally at least—Ishaq ibn Kundaj as governor of Syria and Egypt.

paragraph: Section::::Life.:Rise of al-Mu'tadid and death.

paragraph: In 889, al-Muwaffaq fell out with his son, Abu'l-Abbas, for reasons that are unclear, and had him imprisoned. Al-Muwaffaq spent the next two years on campaign in the Jibal. By the time he returned to Baghdad in May 891, al-Muwaffaq was already nearing death. The garrison commander of Baghdad, and the vizier Isma'il ibn Bulbul, hatched a plot to keep Abu'l-Abbas imprisoned and allow power to pass to al-Mu'tamid. Therefore, they invited the Caliph and his son were to come the city, which they did. In the event, however, the attempt to sideline Abu'l-Abbas failed, due to his popularity with the soldiers and the common people: the soldiers set him free, and when al-Muwaffaq died on 2 June, Abu'l-Abbas immediately assumed his father's position. Abu'l-Abbas assumed the title of "al-Mu'tadid bi-llah" and took his father's position in the line of succession after the Caliph and al-Mufawwad. The powerless al-Mufawwad was pushed aside on 30 April 892, and when al-Mu'tamid died on 14 October 892, "apparently as a result of a surfeit of drink and food" (Hugh N. Kennedy), al-Mu'tadid took power as caliph.

description: caliph

wikidata_label: Al-Mu'tamid

wikipedia_title: Al-Mu'tamid


text:
regnal name
Abbasid
Caliph
Baghdad
al-Mustakfi
Buwayhid
Mu'izz al-Dawla
vizier
amir
Shi'a
Husayn
Prophet
Ali
Aisha
Sunni
Umayyad Spain
Idrissid
Morocco
Fatimid
Egypt
Syria
Daylam
Mahmud of Ghazni
William Muir
public domain

categories: 10th-century Abbasid caliphs,Year of birth missing,974 deaths

paragraph: Al-Muti

paragraph: Abū ʾl-Qāsim al-Faḍl ibn al-Muqtadir (914 – September/October 974), better known by his regnal name of al-Mutīʿ li-ʾllāh (, "obedient to God"), was the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad from 946 to 974. He had long aspired to the office. Between him and the previous Caliph, al-Mustakfi, bitter enmity existed, which led him to retire into hiding.

paragraph: When the Buwayhids under Mu'izz al-Dawla entered Baghdad in 945, al-Muti came forth from his retirement and established himself at the new court. But even he, after he became caliph, was no longer allowed a voice in nominating the vizier by the Buwayhid amirs who dominated Iraq. The caliphal office was shorn of every token of respect and dignity. Shi'a observances were set up, such as public mourning on the anniversary of Husayn's death, and rejoicing of the Prophet's testimony in Ali's favor. On one occasion they went so far as to post upon the various mosques sheets inscribed with curses against the early Caliphs, and even against Aisha. The city was exasperated by the insult, and the placards torn down by the infuriated mob.

paragraph: The Buwayhids maintained their hold on Baghdad over one hundred years. The material position of the Caliphs throughout the Buwayhid reign was at its lowest ebb. Mu'izz al-Dawla was only prevented from raising to throne a Shi'a Caliph by alarm for his own safety, and fear of rebellion, not in the capital alone, but all around. But the Caliphate of Baghdad, on its spiritual side, was still recognized throughout the Muslim world wherever the orthodox (Sunni) faith prevailed, except for Umayyad Spain and Idrissid Morocco. The Fatimid caliphs, on the other hand, claimed spiritual supremacy not only in Egypt, but also contested the pulpits of Syria. In the East the spiritual dominance varied, but, except Persia and Daylam, the balance clearly favored orthodoxy. The Turks were staunch Sunnis. The Great Mahmud of Ghazni, of Eastern fame, held always a friendly attitude towards the Caliphs, and his victories in India were accordingly announced from the pulpits of Baghdad in grateful and glowing terms.

paragraph: Section::::References.

paragraph: BULLET::::- "This text is adapted from William Muir's public domain, The Caliphate: Its Rise, Decline, and Fall."

description: Abbasid caliph

wikidata_label: Al-Muti

wikipedia_title: Al-Muti


text:
Abbasid
Caliph
Baghdad
Al-Mustazhir
Seljuq
Mahmud II
Ahmad ibn Nizam al-Mulk
Bosra
Zengi
Wasit
Baghdad
Syria
Mas'ud
Hashshashin
Ibn al-Athir
Ibn al-Jawzi
Al-Rashid
William Muir
public domain
اغتيال الخليفة المسترشد بالله

categories: 1135 deaths,1092 births,12th-century Abbasid caliphs,Assassinated caliphs

paragraph: Al-Mustarshid

paragraph: Al-Mustarshid Billah ( (1092 – 29 August 1135) was the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad from 1118 to 1135. He was son of his predecessor, Caliph Al-Mustazhir. He succeeded his father in the year 1118 as the twenty-ninth Abbasid Caliph.

paragraph: Section::::Biography.

paragraph: Al-Mustarshid achieved more independence as a ruler while the Seljuq Sultan Mahmud II was engaged in war in the East. In 1122, al-Mustarshid deposed and imprisoned his vizier Amid al-dawla Jalal al-Din Hasan ibn Ali. Mahmud II then imposed Ahmad ibn Nizam al-Mulk as his vizier.

paragraph: In 1123 an Arab Banu Mazyad general, Dubais, tried to take advantage of the momentary lack of power and, after plundering Bosra, attacked Baghdad together with a young brother of the sultan. He was however crushed by a Seljuq army under Zengi and Ahmad ibn Nizam al-Mulk. During the same year, al-Mustarshid removed Ahmad ibn Nizam al-Mulk as his vizier. In 1125 it was the time of al-Mustarshid to rebel. He sent an army to take Wasit but was defeated near Baghdad and imprisoned in his palace (1126).

paragraph: At the death of Sultan Mahmud, a civil war broke out in the Seljuq western territories. Zengi was recalled to the east by certain rebel members, stimulated by the caliph and Dubais. Zengi was beaten and fled. The caliph pursued him to Mosul, and besieged him there but without success for three months. It was nonetheless a milestone in the revival of the military power of the caliphate.

paragraph: Zengi now resumed operations in Syria and in 1134 laid siege to Damascus, but was induced, partly by the bravery of the enemy, partly at the instance of the caliph, to whom Zengi had made some concession in the public prayers, to relinquish the attempt. Recalled again by troubles in the east, he was unable to do much against the Crusaders till after al-Mustarshid's death.

paragraph: Not long after the siege of Damascus, al-Mustarshid launched a military campaign against Sultan Mas'ud of Western Seljuq, who had obtained the title in Baghdad in January 1133 by the caliph himself. The rival armies met near Hamadan: the caliph, deserted by his troops, was taken prisoner, and pardoned on promising not to quit his palace any more. Left in the caliphal tent, however, in the sultan's absence, he was found murdered while reading the Quran, as is supposed, by an emissary of the Hashshashins, who had no love for the caliph. Modern historians have suspected that Mas'ud instigated the murder although the two most important historians of the period Ibn al-Athir and Ibn al-Jawzi did not speculate on this matter.

paragraph: Physically, Al-Mustarshid was a red-haired man with blue eyes and freckles. He was succeeded by his son Al-Rashid.

paragraph: Section::::References.

paragraph: Section::::References.:Sources.

paragraph: BULLET::::- "This text is partly adapted from William Muir's public domain, The Caliphate: Its Rise, Decline, and Fall."

paragraph: BULLET::::- Hanne, Eric. "Putting the Caliph in his Place".

paragraph: BULLET::::- اغتيال الخليفة المسترشد بالله

description: Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad

wikidata_label: Al-Mustarshid

wikipedia_title: Al-Mustarshid


text:
Abbasid
Caliph
Baghdad
Caliph Al-Mustanjid
Saladin
Shia Fatimid Caliphate
Egypt
Benjamin of Tudela
Akbara
Bagdhad
Amir al-Mu'minin
Tigris
Mosaic law
Hebrew
Al-Nasir
William Muir
public domain

paragraph: Al-Mustadi

paragraph: Hassan al-Mustadi Ibn Yusuf al-Mustanjid (1142 – 30 March 1180) () was the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad from 1170 to 1180. He succeeded his father Caliph Al-Mustanjid in 1170 as the Abbasid Caliph.

paragraph: Like his predecessor, he continued to occupy a more or less independent position, with a vizier and courtly surroundings, and supported by only a small force sufficient for an occasional local campaign. During his reign, Saladin ended the Shia Fatimid Caliphate, became the Sultan of Egypt and declared his allegiance to the Abbasids.

paragraph: Benjamin of Tudela, who traveled to this area between 1160 and 1173, noted: "Two days from Akbara stands Bagdhad. The large metropolis of Calif Emir-al-Mumenin al Abassi Amir al-Mu'minin, of the family of their prophet, who is chief of the Mahometan religion. All Mahomatan kings acknowledge him, and he holds the same dignity over them which the Pope enjoys over the Christians. The palace of the Calif at Baghdad is three miles in extent. It contains a large park filled with all sorts of trees, both useful and ornamental, and all kinds of beasts, as well as a pond of water carried thither from the river Tigris; and whenever the Calif desires to enjoy himself and to sport and carouse, birds, beasts and fishes are prepared for him and for his courtiers, whom he invites to his palace. This great Abasside is extremely friendly towards the Jews, many of his officers being of that nation; he understands all languages, is well versed in Mosaic law, and reads and writes the Hebrew tongue. He enjoys nothing but what he earns by the labor of his own hands, and therefore manufactures coverlets, which he stamps with his seal, and which his officers sell in the public market..."

paragraph: In 1180, Caliph Al-Mustadi died and was succeeded by his son Al-Nasir.

paragraph: Section::::Bibliography.

description: Mûstadhî (Abbasi)

wikidata_label: Al-Mustadi

wikipedia_title: Al-Mustadi


text:
Abbasid
Caliph
Baghdad
laqab
Mesopotamia
Persia
Tikrit
Persian Gulf
Tartar
Al-Mustadi
futuwwa
ayyarun
Sufi
Seljuq
Toghrul III
Khwarizm
Ala ad-Din Tekish
vizier
Ismaili
Muhammad II
Shi'a
Genghis Khan
Caspian
Az-Zahir
William Muir
public domain

categories: 1158 births,1225 deaths,13th-century Abbasid caliphs,12th-century Abbasid caliphs

paragraph: Al-Nasir

paragraph: Al-Nasir li-Din Allah (6 August 1158 – 5 October 1225) () was the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad from 1180 until his death. His laqab literally means "The Victor for the Religion of God". He attempted to restore the caliphate to its ancient dominant role and achieved a surprising amount of success, despite the fact that the caliphate had long been militarily subordinated to other dynasties. He not only held Baghdad (the capital of the Abbasid empire), but extended his dominion into Mesopotamia and Persia. According to the historian, Angelika Hartmann, Al-Nasir was the last effective "Abbasid Caliph".

paragraph: Besides his occasional conquests, he consistently held Iraq from Tikrit to the Persian Gulf without interruption. His long reign of forty-seven years is chiefly marked by ambitious and corrupt dealings with the Tartar chiefs, and by his hazardous invocation of the Mongols, which so soon brought his own dynasty to an end. But in his day, there was comparative peace at Baghdad; learning flourished; while refuges for the poor, and other works of public interest, were encouraged.

paragraph: Section::::Biography.

paragraph: Al-Nasir was the son of Caliph Al-Mustadi and a Turkish "umm walad" called "Zumurrud" (Emerald). His reign was unusual for the rise of the futuwwa groups in his reign, connected to Baghdad's long-standing ayyarun. These urban social groups had long existed in Baghdad and elsewhere, and they were often involved in urban conflicts, especially sectarian riots. Al-Nasir made them into an instrument of his government, reorganizing them along Sufi lines and ideology.

paragraph: In the early years of his caliphate, his goal was to crush the Seljuq power and replace it with his own. He incited rebellion against the Seljuq Sultan of Persia, Toghrul III. The Khwarizm Shah, Ala ad-Din Tekish, at his instigation, attacked the Seljuq forces, and defeated them in 1194; Toghrul was killed and his head exposed in the caliph's palace. Tekish, recognized now as supreme ruler of the East, bestowed on the caliph certain provinces of Persia that had been held by the Seljuqs.

paragraph: Al-Nasir sent his vizier to Tekish with some gifts, but the vizier irritated Tekish, who attacked the caliph's troops and routed them. Thereafter hostile relations prevailed for many years. The Caliph assassinated a governor of Tekish by using an Ismaili emissary. Tekish responded by having the body of al-Nasir's vizier, who died on a campaign against him, exhumed, and the head stuck up at Khwarizm. Irritated at this and other hostile acts, the Caliph retaliated by treating with indignity the pilgrims who came from the East under Khwarizm's flag. But beyond such poor revenge, he was powerless for any open enmity.

paragraph: Tekish's son, Muhammad II (1200–1220), annoyed at the actions of the caliph, set up a Shi'a Caliph to paralyse al-Nasir's spiritual power. Following up this act, he turned his army on Baghdad. In response, some medieval historians write that al-Nasir appealed to Genghis Khan, the rising Mongol chief, to check Muhammad's progress. This point is controversial, but it is likely that the caliph had some contacts to the non-Muslims Mongols.

paragraph: The caliph soon found Genghis Khan to be quite threatening. The steppes of Central Asia were set in motion by Genghis Khan, and his hordes put to flight the Khwarizm Shah, who died an exile in an island of the Caspian.

paragraph: Section::::Death.

paragraph: Al-Nasir spent his last three years paralysed and nearly blind. He suffered from dysentery for twenty days and then died.

paragraph: He was succeeded by his Son Az-Zahir in the year 1225 as the thirty-fifth Abbasid Caliph.

paragraph: Section::::Sources.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Hartmann, Angelika. "An-Nasir li-Din Allah: Politik, Religion und Kultur in der späten Abbasidenzeit".

description: Abbasid caliph

wikidata_label: Al-Nasir

wikipedia_title: Al-Nasir


text:
regnal name
Caliph
Abbasid Caliphate
AH
al-Qahir
Abdallah ibn al-Mu'tazz
vizier
harem
Shaghab
al-Mu'tadid
al-Muktafi
Ifriqiya
Fatimids
Mu'nis al-Muzaffar
Egypt
Hamdanids
Jazira
Qarmatians
Mecca
Byzantine Empire
John Kourkouas
Thughur
Armenia
al-Mu'tadid
Greek
Shaghab
al-Muwaffaq
Abbasid
al-Mu'tamid
ghilmān
vizier
Anarchy at Samarra
Iraq
Ahmad ibn Tulun
Syria
Khurasan
Saffarids
Tahirids
Arabian peninsula
Tabaristan
Zaydi
Shi'a
rebellion
Zanj
Qarmatians
Jazira
Thughur
Jibal
Fars
Kirman
Sajid dynasty
Adharbayjan
Armenian
Yemen
local Zaydi dynasty
Qarmatians
Bahrayn
al-Muktafi
major victory
Tulunid
Hugh N. Kennedy
harem
latifundia
tax farming
Sawad
Harun al-Rashid
Muhammad
vizier
al-Abbas ibn al-Hasan al-Jarjara'i
Miskawayh
Mahmud ibn Dawud ibn al-Jarrah
Abdallah ibn al-Mu'tazz
Ali ibn al-Furat
Ali ibn Isa al-Jarrah
Muhammad ibn Abdun
Andalusi
Arib
Muhammad ibn al-Mu'tamid
qāḍī
donative
Hashimite
suq
Hamdanid
al-Husayn ibn Hamdan
Hasani Palace
ḥājib
Sawsan
Safi al-Hurami
Mu'nis al-Khadim
Mu'nis al-Khazin
Mosul
al-Tanukhi
al-Mas'udi
Ibn al-Tiqtaqa
Ahmad al-Khasibi
al-Mutawakkil
Thumal
gold dinar
Ishaq ibn Hunayn
Hunayn ibn Ishaq
ibn Fadlan
al Battani
Tabari
al-Razi
al-Farabi
Abu Nasr Mansur
Alhazen
al-Biruni
Omar Khayyám
Mansur Al-Hallaj
Sufism
Byzantine
Byzantine
Zoe Karbonopsina
Baghdad
al-Qahir
Carmathians

categories: Medieval child rulers,932 deaths,895 births

paragraph: Al-Muqtadir

paragraph: Abu’l-Faḍl Jaʿfar ibn Ahmad al-Muʿtaḍid () (895 – 31 October 932 CE), better known by his regnal name al-Muqtadir bi-llāh (, "Mighty in God"), was the Caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate from 908 to 932 CE (295–320 AH), with the exception of a brief deposition in favour of al-Qahir in 928.

paragraph: He came to the throne at the age of 13, the youngest Caliph in Abbasid history, as a result of palace intrigues. His accession was soon challenged by the supporters of the older and more experienced Abdallah ibn al-Mu'tazz, but their attempted coup in December 908 was quickly and decisively crushed. Al-Muqtadir enjoyed a longer rule than any of his predecessors, but was uninterested in government. Affairs were run by his officials, although the frequent change of viziers—fourteen changes of the head of government are recorded for his reign—hampered the effectiveness of the administration. The harem, where his mother, Shaghab, exercised total control, also exercised a frequently decisive influence on affairs, and especially on the advancement or dismissal of officials. After a period of consolidation and recovery under his father al-Mu'tadid and older half-brother al-Muktafi, al-Muqtadir's reign marks the onset of rapid decline. The full treasury inherited by al-Muqtadir was quickly emptied, and financial difficulties would become a persistent feature of the caliphal government. Ifriqiya fell to the Fatimids, although the commander-in-chief Mu'nis al-Muzaffar was able to repel their attempts to conquer Egypt as well. Nearer to Iraq, the Hamdanids became autonomous masters of the Jazira and the Qarmatians re-emerged as a major threat, culminating in their capture of Mecca in 929. The forces of the Byzantine Empire, under John Kourkouas, began a sustained offensive into the borderlands of the Thughur and Armenia. As a result, in February 929 a palace revolt briefly replaced al-Muqtadir with his brother al-Qahir. The new regime failed to consolidate itself, however, and after a few days al-Muqtadir was restored. The commander-in-chief, Mu'nis al-Muzaffar, was by then a virtual dictator. Urged by his enemies, al-Muqtadir attempted to get rid of him in 932, but Mu'nis marched with his troops on Baghdad, and in the ensuing battle on 31 October 932 al-Muqtadir was killed.

paragraph: Section::::Birth and background.

paragraph: The future al-Muqtadir was born on 14 November 895, as the second son of Caliph al-Mu'tadid (r. 892–902). His mother was the Greek slave concubine Shaghab. Al-Mu'tadid was the son of al-Muwaffaq, an Abbasid prince who became the Caliphate's main military commander, and "de facto" regent, during the rule of his brother, al-Mu'tamid (r. 870–892). Al-Muwaffaq's power relied on his close ties with the "ghilmān", the foreign-born "slave-soldiers" that now provided the professional mainstay of the Abbasid army. The "ghilmān" were highly proficient militarily, but also very expensive, and a potential political danger, as their first priority was securing their pay; alien to the mainstream of Muslim society, the "ghilmān" had no compunctions to overthrow a vizier or even a caliph to secure their aims, as demonstrated during the "Anarchy at Samarra" (861–870), when five caliphs succeeded one another.

paragraph: Caliphal authority in the provinces collapsed during the "Anarchy at Samarra", with the result that by the 870s the central government had lost effective control over most of the Caliphate outside the metropolitan region of Iraq. In the west, Egypt had fallen under the control of Ahmad ibn Tulun, who also disputed control of Syria with al-Muwaffaq, while Khurasan and most of the Islamic East had been taken over by the Saffarids, who replaced the Abbasids' loyal client state, the Tahirids. Most of the Arabian peninsula was likewise lost to local potentates, while in Tabaristan a radical Zaydi Shi'a dynasty took power. Even in Iraq, the rebellion of the Zanj slaves threatened Baghdad itself, and further south the Qarmatians were a nascent threat. Until his death in 891, al-Muwaffaq was engaged in a constant struggle to avert complete collapse, but managed to suppress the Zanj and repel the Saffarids. Upon his death, his son assumed his powers, and when Caliph al-Mu'tamid died in 892, he usurped the throne from his sons. Al-Mu'tadid would prove to be the epitome of the "warrior-caliph", spending most of his reign on campaign. He managed to overthrow the local dynasts who had seized power during the Anarchy and restore control over the Jazira, the frontier towns of the Thughur, and the Jibal, but his attempts to capture Fars and Kirman were unsuccessful. In other areas, however, the fragmentation of the Islamic world continued: the Sajid dynasty was established in Adharbayjan, the Armenian princes became "de facto" independent, Yemen was lost to a local Zaydi dynasty, and a new radical sect, the Qarmatians, emerged and in 899 seized Bahrayn. His successor, al-Muqtadir's older half-brother al-Muktafi, was a more sedentary figure but continued al-Mu'tamid's policies, and was able to score a major victory over the Qarmatians, and reconquer the Tulunid domains.

paragraph: All this came at the cost of gearing the state towards war: according to the historian Hugh N. Kennedy, based on a treasury document from the time of al-Mu'tadid's accession, "out of the total expenditure of 7915 dinars per day, some 5121 are entirely military, 1943 in areas (like riding animals and stables) which served both military and non-military and only 851 in areas like the bureaucracy and the harem which can be described as truly civilian (though even in this case, the bureaucrats’ main purpose seems to have been to arrange the payment of the army). It seems reasonable to conclude that something over 80 per cent of recorded government expenditure was devoted to maintaining the army." Paying the army thus became the chief concern of the government, but it became an increasingly difficult proposition as the outlying provinces were lost. The situation was further exacerbated by the fact that in the remaining provinces, semi-autonomous governors, grandees and members of the dynasty were able to establish virtual latifundia, aided by the system of "muqāṭa'a", a form of tax farming in exchange for a fixed tribute, which they often failed to pay. Even the revenues of the Sawad, the rich agricultural lands of Iraq, are known to have declined considerably at the time. Nevertheless, through stringent economy, and despite near-constant warfare, both al-Mu'tadid and al-Muktafi were able to leave a full treasury behind. Thus the restored Caliphate at the time of al-Muktafi's death was less than half in size than in its heyday under Harun al-Rashid (r. 786–809), but it remained a powerful and viable state, with an army that, "though it was very expensive, was probably the most effective in the Muslim world", and an almost unchallenged legitimacy as the true successors of Muhammad.

paragraph: Section::::Accession and the revolt of Ibn al-Mu'tazz.

paragraph: In 908, al-Muktafi fell ill, and was evidently nearing his end. The issue of succession had been left open, and with the Caliph incapacitated, the vizier al-Abbas ibn al-Hasan al-Jarjara'i took it upon himself to seek out a successor. Two different versions are told of the events: Miskawayh reports that the vizier sought the advice of the most important bureaucrats ("kuttāb", sing. "kātib"), with Mahmud ibn Dawud ibn al-Jarrah suggesting the older and experienced Abdallah ibn al-Mu'tazz, but Ali ibn al-Furat—who is usually portrayed as a villain by Miskawayh—proposing instead the thirteen-year-old Ja'far al-Muqtadir as someone weak, pliable, and easy to be manipulated by the senior officials. The vizier also consulted Ali ibn Isa al-Jarrah, who refused to choose, and Muhammad ibn Abdun, whose opinion has not been recorded. In the end, the vizier concurred with Ibn al-Furat, and on al-Muktafi's death Ja'far was proclaimed as heir and brought to the caliphal palace; when the testament of al-Muktafi was opened, he too had chosen his brother as his successor. A different story is reported by the Andalusi historian Arib, whereby the vizier dithered between the candidacies of Ibn al-Mu'tazz and another older Abbasid prince, Muhammad ibn al-Mu'tamid. The choice of the latter would represent a major political departure, in effect a repudiation of al-Mu'tadid's coup that had deprived the offspring of al-Mu'tamid of power, and of the officials and "ghilmān" that had underpinned al-Mu'tadid's regime. The vizier indeed inclined towards Muhammad, but the latter prudently chose to await al-Muktafi's death before accepting. Indeed, the Caliph recovered, and was informed that people were discussing both Ibn al-Mu'tazz and Ibn al-Mu'tamid as his possible successors. This worried al-Muktafi, who in the presence of the "qāḍīs" as witnesses officially nominated Ja'far as his heir, before dying. The two stories highlight different aspects of al-Muqtadir's accession: on the one hand, a cabal of officials choosing a weak and pliable ruler, "a sinister development" that inaugurated one "of the most disastrous reigns in the whole of Abbasid history [...] a quarter of a century in which all of the work of [al-Muqtadir's] predecessors would be undone", while on the other hand, the issue of dynastic succession, and especially the loyalty of al-Mu'tadid's "ghilmān" to his family, evidently also played an important role.

paragraph: Al-Muqtadir's succession was unopposed, and proceeded with the customary ceremonies. The full treasury bequeathed by al-Mu'tadid and al-Muktafi meant that the donatives to the troops could easily be paid, as well as reviving the old practice of gifts to the members of the Hashimite families. The new caliph was also able to display his largess, and solicitude for his subjects, when he ordered the demolition of a "suq" erected by his predecessor near Bab al-Taq, where the merchants were forced to pay rent, instead of being able to offer their wares freely as before. This benefited the poor of the capital. Nevertheless, the intrigues surrounding his accession had not abated. The supporters of Ibn al-Mu'tazz in particular remained determined to get their candidate on the throne. According to Arib, the vizier al-Abbas had been one of the chief conspirators, but had begun to acquiesce to al-Muqtadir's rule, hoping to control him. His increasingly arrogant behaviour spurred the other conspirators on, and on 16 December 908, the Hamdanid commander al-Husayn ibn Hamdan led a group of men that killed the vizier as he was riding to his garden. The conspirators then sought to seize the young caliph as well, but the latter had managed to flee to the Hasani Palace, where he barricaded himself with his supporters. The "ḥājib" (chamberlain) Sawsan was the driving force behind the loyalists' resistance, urging the commanders Safi al-Hurami, Mu'nis al-Khadim, and Mu'nis al-Khazin, to defend the caliph. Al-Husayn tried the entire morning to gain entrance, but failed; and then abruptly, and without notifying his fellow conspirators, fled the city to his home of Mosul. In the meantime, the other conspirators, led by Mahmud ibn Dawud ibn al-Jarrah, had assembled in a house and proclaimed Ibn al-Mu'tazz as caliph. This had the support of some of the "qāḍīs", who regarded al-Muqtadir's accession as illegal, but others were opposed, reflecting the uncertainty and indecision of the conspirators themselves. Along with Ibn Hamdan's departure, this indecision allowed al-Muqtadir's followers to regain the upper hand: Mu'nis al-Khadim led his "ghilmān" on boats across the Tigris to the house where Ibn al-Mu'tazz and the conspirators had gathered, and dispersed them—Arib records that Mu'nis' troops attacked the assembled supporters of Ibn al-Mu'tazz with arrows, while Miskawayh claims that they fled as soon as the troops appeared.

paragraph: Whatever the true events, the coup collapsed swiftly. Ali ibn al-Furat, the only one among the leading "kuttāb" to not have had any contact with the conspirators, was named vizier. Muhammad ibn al-Jarrah remained a fugitive and a price was placed on his head. Ibn al-Furat tried to limit retaliations and several of the prisoners were released, but many of the conspirators were executed. The troops, whose loyalty had been decisive, received another donative equal to that of the accession. The "ḥājib" Sawsan, however, was soon purged, as he grew arrogant and overbearing: he was arrested by Safi al-Hurami and died under house arrest a few days later.

paragraph: Section::::Reign.

paragraph: Section::::Reign.:The queen-mother Shaghab and the harem.

paragraph: Al-Muqtadir was the first underage Caliph in Muslim history, and as such during the early years of his reign, a regency council ("al-sāda", "the masters") was set up, comprising, according to al-Tanukhi, his mother Shaghab, her personal agent ("qahramāna") Umm Musa, her sister Khatif, and another former concubine of al-Mu'tadid's, Dastanbuwayh. Saghab, usually known simply as "al-Sayyida" ("the Lady"), utterly "dominated her son to the exclusion of the other women in his harem, including his wives and concubines"; al-Muqtadir would spend much of his time in his mother's quarters. As a result, government business came to be determined in the private quarters of the sovereign rather than the public palace dominated by the bureaucracy, and Saghab became one of the most influential figures of her son's reign, interfering in the appointments and dismissals of officials, making financial contributions to the treasury, and undertaking charitable activities. Indeed, a common feature of all accounts by medieval sources is that "mentions of al-Muqtadir are indissolubly tied to mentions not only of his viziers, but also of his female household", and this was one of the main points of criticism for subsequent historians. Thus the contemporary historian al-Mas'udi condemned al-Muqtadir's reign as one where "those who had power were women, servants and others", while the Caliph himself "did not concern himself with State affairs", leaving his officials to govern the state. Likewise, the 13th-century chronicler Ibn al-Tiqtaqa, regarded al-Muqtadir as a "squanderer" who let "matters concerning his reign were run by women and servants, while he was busy satisfying his pleasure". Shaghab in particular is usually portrayed as a "rapacious and short-sighted schemer" by later historians.

paragraph: Shaghab spent most of her life confined in the harem, where she had her own parallel bureaucracy, with her own "kuttāb" devoted to both civil and military affairs. Her power was such that when her secretary Ahmad al-Khasibi was appointed vizier in 925 due to her own and her sister's influence, he regretted the appointment, since his post as "kātib" to the queen-mother was more beneficial to himself. The most important members of her court were the stewardesses or "qahramāna", who were free to exit the harem and act as agents to her interests in the outside world. These women wielded considerable influence, especially as intermediaries between the harem and the court; their influence with Shaghab could lead to the dismissal of even the viziers. The first incumbent was one Fatima, who drowned in the Tigris when her boat was caught in a storm. She was followed by Umm Musa, a descendant of one of the Abbasid clan's junior branches. Her plotting for her favourites, the corruption of her family, and her hostility towards the "good vizier" Ali ibn Isa al-Jarrah, who was dismissed due to her machinations in 917, are underlined in the chronicles of the period. However, when she married her niece to Abu'l-Abbas, a grandson of al-Mutawakkil (r. 847–861), her rivals were quick to accuse her of aspiring to overthrow the Caliph and place her nephew on the throne. In 922/3, she was arrested and replaced by Thumal, who tortured Umm Musa, her brother, and her sister, until they had revealed where her treasure—reportedly valued at one million gold dinars—was hidden. Thumal enjoyed a reputation for cruelty; her first master, Abu Dulaf, had used her to punish servants who displeased him. Another "qahramāna", Zaydan, was the antithesis of Thumal: her house was used to jail several senior officials after they were dismissed, but it was a comfortable captivity, and she often provided refuge to those persecuted by their political rivals.

paragraph: Section::::Reign.:Policies and events.

paragraph: The stand that had been made during the last three reigns to stay the decline of the Abbasid power at last came to an end. From al-Muqtadir's reign on, the Abbasids would decline. Yet, at the same time, many names that would become famous in the world of literature and science lived during this and the following reigns. Among the best known are: Ishaq ibn Hunayn (d. 911) (son of Hunayn ibn Ishaq), a physician and translator of Greek philosophical works into Arabic; ibn Fadlan, explorer; al Battani (d. 923), astronomer; Tabari (d. 923), historian and theologian; al-Razi (d. 930), a philosopher who made fundamental and lasting contributions to the fields of medicine and chemistry; al-Farabi (d. 950), chemist and philosopher; Abu Nasr Mansur (d. 1036), mathematician; Alhazen (d. 1040), mathematician; al-Biruni (d. 1048), mathematician, astronomer, physicist; Omar Khayyám (d. 1123), poet, mathematician, and astronomer; and Mansur Al-Hallaj, a mystic, writer and teacher of Sufism most famous for his self-proclaimed attainment of unity with God but misunderstood and disputed as divinity, his poetry and for his execution for heresy by Caliph Al-Muqtadir.

paragraph: By the time of al-Muqtadir's reign, there had been war for some years between the Muslims and the Greeks in Asia, with heavy losses for the most part on the side of the Muslims, with a great number taken as prisoners. The Byzantine frontier, however, began to be threatened by Bulgarian hordes. So the Byzantine Empress Zoe Karbonopsina sent two ambassadors to Baghdad with the view of securing an armistice and arranging for the ransom of the Muslim prisoners. The embassy was graciously received and peace restored. A sum of 120,000 golden pieces was paid for the freedom of the captives. All this only added to the disorder of the city. The people, angry at the success of the "Infidels" in Asia Minor and at similar losses in Persia, complained that the Caliph cared for none of these things and, instead of seeking to restore the prestige of Islam, passed his days and nights with slave-girls and musicians. Uttering such reproaches, they threw stones at the Imam, as in the Friday service he named the Caliph in the public prayers.

paragraph: Some twelve years later, al-Muqtadir was subjected to the indignity of deposition. The leading courtiers having conspired against him, he was forced to abdicate in favour of his brother al-Qahir, but, after scenes of rioting and plunder, and loss of thousands of lives, the conspirators found that they were not supported by the troops. Al-Muqtadir, who had been kept in safety, was again placed upon the throne. The state's finances fell after this event into so wretched a state that nothing was left with which to pay the city guards. Al-Muqtadir was eventually slain outside the city gate in 320 AH (932 CE).

paragraph: Al-Muqtadir's long reign had brought the Abbasids to the lowest ebb. Northern Africa was lost and Egypt nearly. Mosul had thrown off its dependence and the Greeks could make raids at pleasure along the poorly protected borders. Yet in the East formal recognition of the Caliphate remained in place, even by those who virtually claimed their independence; and nearer home, the terrible Carmathians had been for the time put down. In Baghdad, al-Muqtadir, the mere tool of a venal court, was at the mercy of foreign guards, who, commanded for the most part by Turkish and other officers of foreign descent, were frequently breaking out into rebellion. Because Al-Muqtadir's ineffective rule, the prestige which his immediate predecessors had regained was lost, and the Abbasid throne became again the object of contempt at home and a tempting prize for attack from abroad.

alias: Abu 'l-Fadl Ja'far ibn Ahmad al-Mu'tadid

description: caliph

wikidata_label: Al-Muqtadir

wikipedia_title: Al-Muqtadir


text: regnal name

text: Caliph

text: Abbasid Caliphate

text: al-Muwaffaq

text: al-Mu'tamid

text: Zanj Rebellion

text: al-Mufawwad

text: Jazira

text: Thughur

text: Jibal

text: Saffarids

text: Tulunids

text: suzerainty

text: Sunni

text: traditionalist

text: Alids

text: al-Muktafi

text: Qarmatians

text: Buyids

text: Abbasid

text: caliph

text: al-Mutawakkil

text: Greek

text: Turkish

text: al-Muntasir

text: Anarchy at Samarra

text: al-Mu'tamid

text: ghilmān

text: al-Muwaffaq

text: Egypt

text: Iraq

text: Ahmad ibn Tulun

text: Syria

text: Khurasan

text: Saffarids

text: Persianate

text: Tahirids

text: Arabian peninsula

text: Tabaristan

text: Zaydi

text: Shi'a

text: rebellion

text: Zanj

text: plantations

text: Qarmatians

text: repelling

text: kunya

text: Basra

text: Wasit

text: Khuzistan

text: Ya'qub al-Saffar

text: Mesopotamian Marshes

text: Zirak al-Turki

text: al-Tabari

text: Ishaq ibn Kundaj

text: Ibn Abu'l-Saj

text: Palestine

text: Battle of Tawahin

text: Khumarawayh

text: Jazira

text: Thughur

text: Byzantine Empire

text: Fars

text: vizier

text: Sa'id ibn Makhlad

text: Jibal

text: gout

text: Isma'il ibn Bulbul

text: al-Mufawwad

text: Hugh N. Kennedy

text: ghazī

text: Michael Bonner

text: Harun al-Rashid

text: al-Mu'tasim

text: emir

text: dinars

text: Diyar Rabi'a

text: Diyar Mudar

text: Thierry Bianquis

text: Harun ibn Khumarawayh

text: Homs

text: Shaybani

text: Amid

text: Diyar Bakr

text: Ahmad ibn Isa al-Shaybani

text: Taghlibi

text: Hamdan ibn Hamdun

text: Mosul

text: Husayn

text: crucified

text: Hamdanid

text: Muhammad

text: Ali al-Muktafi

text: Transcaucasia

text: Armenia

text: Adharbayjan

text: Devdad

text: Sajid dynasty

text: Tarsus

text: war against Byzantium

text: Damian of Tarsus

text: Demetrias

text: Aegean Sea

text: Melias

text: themes

text: modus vivendi

text: Amr ibn al-Layth

text: Rayy

text: Isfahan

text: Dulafids

text: Nihavand

text: Ahmad ibn Abd al-Aziz ibn Abi Dulaf

text: Qazvin

text: Qum

text: Hamadan

text: Karaj

text: Zaydi emirate

text: Rafi ibn Harthama

text: Alid

text: Khwarazm

text: Transoxiana

text: Samanids

text: Isma'il ibn Ahmad

text: Kirman

text: Tahir

text: was repeated

text: Isma'ili

text: Kufa

text: Sawad

text: Abu Sa'id al-Jannabi

text: Bahrayn

text: al-Abbas ibn Amr al-Ghanawi

text: Abu Abdallah al-Shi'i

text: Kutama

text: Berbers

text: pilgrimage

text: Mecca

text: Aghlabid

text: Ifriqiya

text: Fatimid Caliphate

text: dirham

text: latifundia

text: tax farming

text: dīwān

text: Persian New Year

text: kharāj

text: Ubayd Allah ibn Sulayman ibn Wahb

text: al-Qasim

text: freedman

text: Badr

text: Banu'l-Furat

text: Ahmad

text: Ali

text: Banu'l-Jarrah

text: Muhammad ibn Dawud

text: Ali ibn Isa

text: Hilal as-Sabi

text: Round City

text: al-Mansur

text: al-Mas'udi

text: Great Mosque of al-Mansur

text: Hasani Palace

text: Thurayya

text: Pleiades

text: Firdus

text: Taj ("Crown") Palace

text: Dujayl Canal

text: Sunni

text: traditionalist

text: escheat

text: Hanbali

text: Mu'awiya

text: Umayyad Caliphate

text: main opponent

text: Ali

text: al-Ma'mun

text: al-Wathiq

text: translators of Greek texts

text: Thabit ibn Qurra

text: grammarians

text: Ibn Durayd

text: al-Zajjaj

text: Ahmad ibn al-Tayyib al-Sarakhsi

text: al-Kindi

text: Mamluk

text: bellows

text: al-Saffah

text: al-Muqtadir

text: al-Qahir

text: Karl Vilhelm Zetterstéen

text: amīr al-umarāʾ

text: Buyids

categories: 9th-century rulers in Asia,902 deaths,10th-century Abbasid caliphs,Year of birth uncertain,9th-century Abbasid caliphs,10th-century rulers in Asia,Arab people of Greek descent,850s births,Generals of the Abbasid Caliphate,Baghdad under the Abbasid Caliphate

paragraph: Al-Mu'tadid

paragraph: Abu'l-Abbas Ahmad ibn Talha al-Muwaffaq (; 854 or 861 – 5 April 902), better known by his regnal name al-Mu'tadid bi-llah (, "Seeking Support in God") was the Caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate from 892 until his death in 902.

paragraph: Al-Mu'tadid was the son of al-Muwaffaq, who was the regent and effective ruler of the Abbasid state during the reign of his brother, Caliph al-Mu'tamid. As a prince, the future al-Mu'tadid served under his father during various military campaigns, most notably in the suppression of the Zanj Rebellion, in which he played a major role. When al-Muwaffaq died in June 891 al-Mu'tadid succeeded him as regent. He quickly sidelined his cousin and heir-apparent al-Mufawwad, and when al-Mu'tamid died in October 892, he succeeded to the throne. Like his father, al-Mu'tadid's power depended on his close relations with the army. These were first forged during the campaigns against the Zanj and were reinforced in later expeditions which the Caliph led in person: al-Mu'tadid would prove to be the most militarily active of all Abbasid caliphs. Through his energy and ability, he succeeded in restoring to the Abbasid state some of the power and provinces it had lost during the turmoil of the previous decades.

paragraph: In a series of campaigns he recovered the provinces of Jazira, Thughur and Jibal, and effected a rapprochement with the Saffarids in the east and the Tulunids in the west that secured their—albeit largely nominal—recognition of caliphal suzerainty. These successes came at the cost of gearing the economy almost exclusively towards the maintenance of the army, which resulted in the expansion and rise to power of the central fiscal bureaucracy and contributed to the Caliph's lasting reputation for avarice. Al-Mu'tadid was renowned for his cruelty when punishing criminals, and subsequent chroniclers recorded his extensive and ingenious use of torture. His reign saw the permanent move of the capital back to Baghdad, where he engaged in major building activities. A firm supporter of Sunni traditionalist orthodoxy, he nevertheless maintained good relations with the Alids, and was interested in natural sciences, renewing caliphal sponsorship of scholars and scientists.

paragraph: Despite his successes, al-Mu'tadid's reign was ultimately too short to effect a lasting reversal of the Caliphate's fortunes, and the revival that he spearheaded was too dependent on the presence of capable personalities at the helm of the state. The brief reign of his less able son and heir, al-Muktafi, still saw some major gains, notably the annexation of the Tulunid domains, but his later successors lacked his energy, and new enemies appeared in the form of the Qarmatians. In addition, factionalism within the bureaucracy, that had become apparent during the later years of al-Mu'tadid's reign, would debilitate the Abbasid government for decades to come, eventually leading to the subjugation of the Caliphate by a series of military strongmen, culminating in the conquest of Baghdad by the Buyids in 946.

paragraph: Section::::Early life.

paragraph: Al-Mu'tadid was born Ahmad, the son of Talha, one of the sons of the Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil (), and a Greek slave named Dirar. The exact date of his birth is unknown; as he is variously recorded as being thirty-eight or thirty-one years old at the time of his accession, he was born around either 854 or 861. In 861, al-Mutawakkil was murdered by his Turkish guards in collusion with his oldest son al-Muntasir (). This began a period of internal turmoil, known as the "Anarchy at Samarra" from the site of the Caliphate's capital, which ended in 870 with the rise to the throne of Ahmad's uncle, al-Mu'tamid (). Real power however, had come to lie with the elite Turkish slave-soldiers ("ghilmān") and with Ahmad's own father, Talha, who, as the Caliphate's main military commander, served as the chief intermediary between the caliphal government and the Turks. Assuming the honorific name al-Muwaffaq in the style of the caliphs, Talha soon became the effective ruler of the Caliphate, a position consolidated in 882 after a failed attempt by al-Mu'tamid to flee to Egypt led to his confinement in house arrest.

paragraph: Caliphal authority in the provinces collapsed during the "Anarchy at Samarra", with the result that by the 870s the central government had lost effective control over most of the Caliphate outside the metropolitan region of Iraq. In the west, Egypt had fallen under the control of the Turkish slave-soldier Ahmad ibn Tulun, who also disputed control of Syria with al-Muwaffaq, while Khurasan and most of the Islamic East had been taken over by the Saffarids, a Persianate dynasty who replaced the Abbasids' loyal clients, the Tahirids. Most of the Arabian peninsula was likewise lost to local potentates, while in Tabaristan a radical Zaydi Shi'a dynasty took power. Even in Iraq, the rebellion of the Zanj, African slaves brought to work in the plantations of Lower Iraq, threatened Baghdad itself, and further south the Qarmatians were a nascent threat. Al-Muwaffaq's regency was thus a continuous struggle to save the tottering Caliphate from collapse. His attempts to recover control of Egypt and Syria from Ibn Tulun failed, with the latter even able to expand his territory and obtain recognition as a hereditary ruler, but he succeeded in preserving the core of the Caliphate in Iraq by repelling a Saffarid invasion aimed at capturing Baghdad, and by subduing the Zanj after a long struggle.

paragraph: Section::::Early life.:Campaigns against the Zanj and the Tulunids.

paragraph: It was against the Zanj that the future al-Mu'tadid—at this time usually referred to by his "kunya" of Abu'l-Abbas—would acquire his first military experience and establish the close ties with the army that would characterize his reign. Al-Muwaffaq gave his son a military upbringing from an early age, and the young prince became an excellent rider and a solicitous commander, who showed personally attention to the state of his men and their horses.

paragraph: Within a decade of the outbreak of the revolt in 869, the Zanj had seized most of lower Iraq, including the cities of Basra and Wasit, and expanded into Khuzistan. In 879 the death of the founder of the Saffarid state, Ya'qub al-Saffar, allowed the Abbasid government to fully concentrate its attention against the Zanj rebellion, and Abu'l-Abbas' appointment to command in December 879 at the head of 10,000 troops marks the turning point of the war. In the long and hard struggle that followed, which involved amphibious operations in the Mesopotamian Marshes, Abu'l-Abbas and his own "ghilmān"—of which the long-serving Zirak al-Turki was the most eminent—played the major role. Although the Abbasid armies eventually swelled with reinforcements, volunteers, and Zanj defectors, it was the few but elite "ghilmān" who formed the army's backbone, filling its leadership positions and bearing the brunt of the battle, often under the personal command of Abu'l-Abbas. After years of gradually tightening the noose around the Zanj, in August 883 the Abbasid troops stormed their capital of al-Mukhtara, putting an end to the rebellion. A detailed account of the war by a former Zanj rebel preserved in the history written by al-Tabari, stresses the role of al-Muwaffaq and Abu'l-Abbas as the heroes who, in defence of the embattled Muslim state, suppressed the rebellion; the successful campaign would become a major tool in their propaganda effort to legitimize their "de facto" usurpation of the Caliph's power.

paragraph: Following the death of Ibn Tulun in May 884, the two caliphal generals Ishaq ibn Kundaj and Ibn Abu'l-Saj sought to take advantage of the situation and attacked the Tulunid domains in Syria, but their initial gains were rapidly reversed. In the spring of 885, Abu'l-Abbas was sent to take charge of the invasion. He soon succeeded in defeating the Tulunids and forcing them to retreat to Palestine, but after a quarrel with Ibn Kundaj and Ibn Abu'l-Saj, the latter two abandoned the campaign and withdrew their forces. In the Battle of Tawahin on 6 April, Abu'l-Abbas confronted Ibn Tulun's son and heir, Khumarawayh, in person. The Abbasid prince was initially victorious, forcing Khumarawayh to flee, but was in turn defeated and fled the battlefield, while much of his army was taken prisoner. After this victory the Tulunids expanded their control over the Jazira and the borderlands (the Thughur) with the Byzantine Empire. A peace agreement followed in 886, whereby al-Muwaffaq was forced to recognize Khumarawayh as hereditary governor over Egypt and Syria for 30 years, in exchange for an annual tribute. Over the next couple of years, Abu'l-Abbas was involved in his father's ultimately unsuccessful attempts to wrest Fars from Saffarid control.

paragraph: Section::::Early life.:Imprisonment and rise to the throne.

paragraph: During this period, relations between Abu'l-Abbas and his father deteriorated, although the reason is unclear. Already in 884, Abu'l-Abbas' "ghilmān" rioted in Baghdad against al-Muwaffaq's vizier, Sa'id ibn Makhlad, possibly over unpaid wages. Eventually, in 889, Abu'l-Abbas was arrested and put in prison on his father's orders, where he remained despite the demonstrations of the "ghilmān" loyal to him. He apparently remained under arrest until May 891, when al-Muwaffaq returned to Baghdad after two years spent in Jibal.

paragraph: Al-Muwaffaq, suffering from gout, was clearly close to death; the vizier Isma'il ibn Bulbul and the city commander of Baghdad, Abu'l-Saqr, called al-Mu'tamid and his sons, including the heir-apparent al-Mufawwad, into the city, hoping to exploit the situation for their own purposes. This attempt to sideline Abu'l-Abbas failed due to his popularity with the soldiers and the common people. He was set free to visit his father's deathbed, and was able to immediately assume power when al-Muwaffaq died on 2 June. The Baghdad mob ransacked his opponents' houses, and Ibn Bulbul was dismissed and thrown in prison, where he died from maltreatment after a few months. Similar fates awaited any of Ibn Bulbul's supporters that were caught by Abu'l-Abbas's agents.

paragraph: Now "all-powerful", Abu'l-Abbas succeeded his father in all his offices, with the title of "al-Mu'tadid bi-llah" and a position in the line of succession after the Caliph and al-Mufawwad. Within a few months, on 30 April 892, al-Mu'tadid had his cousin removed from the succession altogether. Thus, when al-Mu'tamid died on 14 October 892, al-Mu'tadid took power as caliph.

paragraph: Section::::Reign.

paragraph: The modern historian Harold Bowen describes al-Mu'tadid at his accession as follows: Like his father's, al-Mu'tadid's power rested on his close relations with the military. As the historian Hugh N. Kennedy writes, he "came to the throne, essentially, as a usurper [...] not by any legal right, but because of the support of his "ghilmān", who not only ensured that he became Caliph, but also that their rivals in the military were humiliated and disbanded". Thus it is unsurprising that military activities consumed his interest, especially as he usually led his army in person on campaign. This secured his reputation as a warrior-caliph and champion of the Islamic faith ("ghazī"); as the historian Michael Bonner comments, "[t]he role of 'ghazī caliph', invented by Harun al-Rashid and enhanced by al-Mu'tasim, now had its greatest performance, in al-Mu'tadid's tireless campaigning".

paragraph: From the start of his reign, the new Caliph set out to reverse the fragmentation of the Abbasid Caliphate, a goal towards which he worked with a mixture of force and diplomacy. Although an active and enthusiastic campaigner, al-Mu'tadid was also "a skilful diplomat, always prepared to make compromises with those who were too powerful to defeat", according to Kennedy.

paragraph: Section::::Reign.:Relations with the Tulunids.

paragraph: This policy became immediately evident in the conciliatory attitude the new Caliph adopted towards his most powerful vassal, the Tulunid regime. In spring 893, al-Mu'tadid recognized and reconfirmed Khumarawayh in his office as autonomous emir over Egypt and Syria, in exchange for an annual tribute of 300,000 dinars and a further 200,000 dinars in arrears, as well as the return to caliphal control of the two Jaziran provinces of Diyar Rabi'a and Diyar Mudar. To seal the pact, Khumarawayh offered his daughter, Qatr al-Nada ("Dew Drop") as bride to one of the Caliph's sons, but al-Mu'tadid chose to marry her himself. The Tulunid princess brought with her a million dinars as her dowry, a "wedding gift that was considered the most sumptuous in medieval Arab history" (Thierry Bianquis). Her arrival in Baghdad was marked by the luxury and extravagance of her retinue, which contrasted starkly with the impoverished caliphal court. According to a story, after a thorough search, al-Mu'tadid's chief eunuch could only find five ornate silver-and-gold candlesticks to decorate the palace, while the princess was accompanied by 150 servants each carrying such a candlestick. Thereupon al-Mu'tadid is said to have remarked "come let us go and hide ourselves, lest we be seen in our poverty".

paragraph: Qatr al-Nada died soon after the wedding, and the murder of Khumarawayh in 896 left the Tulunid state in the unsteady hands of Khumarawayh's under-age sons. Al-Mu'tadid swiftly took advantage of this and in 897 extended his control over the border emirates of the Thughur, where, in the words of Michael Bonner, "[he] assumed, after a long hiatus, the old caliphal prerogative of commanding the annual summer expedition and arranging the defence against the Byzantine Empire". In addition, to secure caliphal recognition of his position, the new Tulunid ruler Harun ibn Khumarawayh () was forced into further concessions, handing back all of Syria north of Homs, and increasing the annual tribute to 450,000 dinars. Over the next few years, increasing domestic turmoil in the remaining Tulunid domains, and the escalation of Qarmatian attacks, encouraged many Tulunid followers to defect to the resurgent Caliphate.

paragraph: Section::::Reign.:Jazira, Transcaucasia, and the Byzantine front.

paragraph: In the Jazira the new Caliph struggled against a variety of opponents: alongside an almost thirty-year-old Kharijite rebellion, there were various autonomous local magnates, chiefly the Shaybani ruler of Amid and Diyar Bakr, Ahmad ibn Isa al-Shaybani, and the Taghlibi chief Hamdan ibn Hamdun. In 893, while the Kharijites were distracted by internal quarrels, al-Mu'tadid captured Mosul from the Shayban. In 895 Hamdan ibn Hamdun was evicted from his strongholds, hunted down and captured. Finally, the Kharijite leader Harun ibn Abdallah himself was defeated and captured by Hamdan's son Husayn in 896, before being sent to Baghdad, where he was crucified. This exploit marked the beginning of an illustrious career for Husayn ibn Hamdan in the caliphal armies, and the gradual rise of the Hamdanid family to power in the Jazira. Ahmad al-Shaybani retained Amid until his death in 898, being succeeded by his son Muhammad. In the next year, al-Mu'tadid returned to the Jazira, ousted Muhammad from Amid, and reunified the entire province under central government control by installing his oldest son and heir, Ali al-Muktafi, as governor.

paragraph: Al-Mu'tadid was unable, however, to restore effective caliphal control north of the Jazira in Transcaucasia, where Armenia and Adharbayjan remained in the hands of virtually independent local dynasties. Ibn Abu'l-Saj, who was now the caliphal governor of Adharbayjan, proclaimed himself independent around 898, although he soon re-recognized the Caliph's suzerainty during his conflicts with the Christian Armenian princes. When he died in 901, he was succeeded by his son Devdad, marking the consolidation of the semi-independent Sajid dynasty in the region. In 900, Ibn Abu'l-Saj was even suspected of plotting to seize Diyar Mudar province with the co-operation of the notables of Tarsus, after which the vengeful Caliph ordered the latter arrested and the city's fleet burned. This decision was a self-inflicted handicap in the centuries-long war against Byzantium; in recent decades the Tarsians and their fleet had played a major role in the raids against the Byzantine frontier provinces. While a Syrian fleet under the renegade Damian of Tarsus sacked the port of Demetrias around 900, and Arab fleets would go on to wreak havoc in the Aegean Sea over the next two decades, the Byzantines were strengthened on land by an influx of Armenian refugees, such as Melias. The Byzantines began to expand their control over the border regions, scoring victories and founding new provinces (themes) in the former no-man's land between the two empires.

paragraph: Section::::Reign.:The East and the Saffarids.

paragraph: In the Islamic East, the Caliph was forced to acknowledge the reality of the Saffarids' domination and established a "modus vivendi" with them, perhaps hoping, according to Kennedy, to harness them in a partnership analogous to that which the Tahirids had enjoyed in previous decades. Consequently, the Saffarid ruler Amr ibn al-Layth was recognized in his possession of Khurasan and eastern Persia as well as Fars, while the Abbasids were to exercise direct control over western Persia, namely Jibal, Rayy and Isfahan. This policy gave the Caliph a free hand to recover the territories of the Dulafids, another semi-independent local dynasty, that were centred on Isfahan and Nihavand. When the Dulafid Ahmad ibn Abd al-Aziz ibn Abi Dulaf died in 893, al-Mu'tadid moved swiftly to install his son al-Muktafi as governor in Rayy, Qazvin, Qum and Hamadan. The Dulafids were confined to their core region around Karaj and Isfahan, before being deposed outright in 896. Nevertheless, the Abbasid hold over these territories remained precarious, especially due to the proximity of the Zaydi emirate in Tabaristan, and in 897 Rayy was handed over to Saffarid control.

paragraph: The Abbasid–Saffarid partnership in Iran was most clearly expressed in their joint effort against the general Rafi ibn Harthama, who had made his base in Rayy and posed a threat to both caliphal and Saffarid interests in the region. Al-Mu'tadid sent Ahmad ibn Abd al-Aziz to seize Rayy from Rafi, who fled and made common cause with the Zaydis of Tabaristan in an effort to seize Khurasan from the Saffarids. However, with Amr mobilizing the anti-Alid sentiments of the populace against him and the expected assistance from the Zaydis failing to materialize, Rafi was defeated and killed in Khwarazm in 896. Amr, now at the pinnacle of his power, sent the defeated rebel's head to Baghdad, and in 897 the Caliph transferred control of Rayy to him. The partnership finally collapsed after Mu'tadid appointed Amr as governor of Transoxiana in 898, which was ruled by his rivals, the Samanids. Al-Mu'tamid deliberately encouraged Amr to confront the Samanids, only for Amr to be crushingly defeated and taken prisoner by them in 900. The Samanid ruler, Isma'il ibn Ahmad, sent him in chains to Baghdad, where he was executed in 902, after al-Mu'tadid's death. Al-Mu'tadid in turn conferred Amr's titles and governorships to Isma'il ibn Ahmad. The Caliph also moved to regain Fars and Kirman, but the Saffarid remnant under Amr's grandson Tahir proved sufficiently resilient to thwart the Abbasid attempts for several years. It was not until 910 that the Abbasids managed to regain the coveted Fars province.

paragraph: Section::::Reign.:Rise of sectarianism and fragmentation in the periphery.

paragraph: In the course of the 9th century, a range of new movements emerged, based on Shi'ite doctrines, which replaced Kharijism as the main focus for opposition to the established regimes. They gained their first successes in the periphery of the Abbasid empire: the Zaydi takeover in Tabaristan was repeated in 897 in Yemen. Under al-Mu'tadid, a new danger appeared closer to the Caliphate's metropolitan areas: the Qarmatians. A radical Isma'ili sect founded in Kufa around 874, the Qarmatians were originally a sporadic and minor nuisance in the Sawad (Lower Iraq), but their power grew swiftly to alarming proportions after 897. Under the leadership of Abu Sa'id al-Jannabi, they seized Bahrayn in 899 and in the next year defeated a caliphal army under al-Abbas ibn Amr al-Ghanawi. In the years following al-Mu'tadid's death, the Qarmatians "were to prove the most dangerous enemies the Abbasids had faced since the time of the Zanj" (Kennedy). At the same time, a Kufan Isma'ili missionary, Abu Abdallah al-Shi'i, made contact with the Kutama Berbers during a pilgrimage to Mecca. His proselytization efforts made rapid headway among them, and in 902, he began attacks on the Aghlabid emirate of Ifriqiya, clients of the Abbasids. Its conquest was completed in 909, laying the foundations of the Fatimid Caliphate.

paragraph: Section::::Reign.:Domestic government.

paragraph: Section::::Reign.:Domestic government.:Fiscal policies.

paragraph: The Abbasid army, following the reforms of al-Mu'tasim, was a smaller and more professional fighting force than the caliphal armies of the past. Although it proved effective militarily, it also posed a potential danger to the stability of the Abbasid regime: drawn from Turks and other peoples from the Caliphate's periphery and the lands beyond, it was alienated from the society of the Caliphate's heartlands, with the result that the soldiers were "entirely reliant on the state not just for cash but for their very survival" (Kennedy). As a result, any failure by the central government to provide their pay resulted in a military uprising and a political crisis; this had been repeatedly demonstrated during the Anarchy at Samarra. Consequently, ensuring the regular payment of the army became the prime task of the state. According to Kennedy, based on a treasury document from the time of al-Mu'tadid's accession:

paragraph: At the same time, the Caliphate's fiscal basis had shrunk dramatically after so many tax-paying provinces were lost from the central government's control. The caliphal government was now increasingly reliant on the revenue of the Sawad and the other areas of lower Iraq, which were witnessing a rapid decline in agricultural productivity due to the disruption of the civil wars and neglect of the irrigation network. In the reign of Harun al-Rashid (786–809) the Sawad had provided an annual revenue of 102,500,000 "dirhams", more than double the revenue of Egypt and three times that of Syria; by the early 10th century it was providing less than a third of that figure. The situation was further exacerbated by the fact that in the remaining provinces, semi-autonomous governors, grandees and members of the dynasty were able to establish virtual latifundia, aided by the system of "muqāṭa'a", a form of tax farming in exchange for a fixed tribute, which they often failed to pay. To maximize their revenue from the territory remaining to them, the Abbasids increased the breadth and complexity of the central bureaucracy, dividing the provinces into smaller tax districts as well as increasing the number of the fiscal departments ("dīwāns"), which allowed for close oversight of both revenue collection and the activities of the officials themselves.

paragraph: To combat this fiscal crisis, the Caliph would often personally devote himself to the supervision of revenue, acquiring a reputation, according to F. Malti-Douglas, for "a spirit of economy, verging on avarice"; he was said to "examine petty accounts that a commoner would scorn to consider" (Harold Bowen). Fines and confiscations multiplied under his rule, with the resulting revenue, along with the income from the crown domain and even a portion of the provincial taxation, flowing to the caliphal privy purse ("bayt al-māl al-khāṣṣa"). The latter now acquired a leading role among the fiscal departments, and it frequently held more money than the public treasury ("bayt al-māl al-ʿāmma"). By the end of al-Mu'tadid's reign, the once empty privy purse would contain ten million dinars. On the other hand, in a measure aimed to ease the tax burden of the farmers, in 895 the Caliph changed the start of the tax year from the Persian New Year in March to 11 June—which became known as "Nayrūz al-Muʿtaḍid", "al-Mu'tadid's New Year"—so that the land tax ("kharāj") was now collected after the harvest instead of before.

paragraph: Section::::Reign.:Domestic government.:Rise of the bureaucracy.

paragraph: Al-Mu'tadid's policies strengthened the position of the civil bureaucracy, which now reached the apogee of its influence, and especially that of the vizier, whom even the army came to respect as the spokesman of the caliph. In terms of personnel, al-Mu'tadid's reign was marked by continuity among the senior leadership of the state. Ubayd Allah ibn Sulayman ibn Wahb remained vizier from the start of the reign until his death in 901, and was succeeded by his son, al-Qasim, who had from the start been deputizing for his father during the latter's absences from the capital. The freedman Badr, a veteran who had served under al-Muwaffaq and whose daughter married the Caliph's son, remained commander of the army. The fiscal departments, especially of the Sawad, were managed first by the Banu'l-Furat brothers Ahmad and Ali, and after 899 by the Banu'l-Jarrah under Muhammad ibn Dawud and his nephew, Ali ibn Isa. The original administrative team was so effective and harmonious that according to the 11th-century historian Hilal as-Sabi, it was said by subsequent generations that "there had never been such a quartet, Caliph, Vizier, Commander, and chief of the "diwāns", as al-Mu'tadid, Ubayd Allah, Badr and Ahmad ibn al-Furat".

paragraph: On the other hand, as Michel Bonner points out, the later reign of al-Mu'tadid "saw a growth of factionalism within this bureaucracy, observable also in the army and in urban civilian life". The intense rivalry between the two bureaucratic dynasties of the Banu'l-Furat and the Banu'l-Jarrah, with their extensive networks of clients, began at this time. Although a strong caliph and vizier could restrain this antagonism, it would dominate the Abbasid government during the following decades, with the factions alternating in office and often fining and torturing their predecessors to extract money according to the well-established practice known as "muṣādara". In addition, al-Qasim ibn Ubayd Allah was of an altogether different character than his father: soon after his appointment to the vizierate, al-Qasim plotted to have al-Mu'tadid assassinated, and tried to involve Badr in his scheming. The general rejected his proposals with indignation, but al-Qasim was saved from discovery and execution by the Caliph's sudden death. The Vizier then tried to dominate al-Muktafi, moved swiftly to have Badr denounced and executed, and was involved in yet more intrigues against the Banu'l-Furat.

paragraph: Section::::Reign.:Domestic government.:Return of the capital to Baghdad.

paragraph: Al-Mu'tadid also completed the return of the capital from Samarra to Baghdad, which had already served as his father's main base of operations. The city's centre, however, was relocated on the eastern bank of the Tigris and further downstream from the original Round City founded by al-Mansur () a century earlier; it has there remained to this day. As the 10th-century historian al-Mas'udi wrote, the Caliph's two main passions were "women and building" ("al-nisāʿ waʿl-banāʿ"), and accordingly he engaged in major building activities in the capital: he restored and expanded the Great Mosque of al-Mansur which had fallen into disuse; enlarged the Hasani Palace; built the new palaces of Thurayya ("Pleiades") and Firdus ("Paradise"); and began work on the Taj ("Crown") Palace, which was completed under al-Muktafi. He also took care to restore the city's irrigation network by clearing the silted-up Dujayl Canal, paying for this with money from those landowners who stood to profit from it.

paragraph: Section::::Reign.:Domestic government.:Theological doctrines and promotion of science.

paragraph: In terms of doctrine, al-Mu'tadid sided firmly with Sunni traditionalist orthodoxy from the outset of his reign, forbidding theological works and abolishing the fiscal department responsible for property in escheat, which Hanbali legal opinion regarded as illegal. At the same time he also tried to maintain good relations with the Alids, to the point of seriously considering ordering the official cursing of Mu'awiya, the founder of the Umayyad Caliphate and main opponent of Ali; he was only dissuaded at the last moment by his advisers, who feared any unforeseen consequences such an act might have. Al-Mu'tadid also maintained good relations with the breakaway Zaydi imams of Tabaristan, but his pro-Alid stance failed to prevent the establishment of a second Zaydi state in Yemen in 901.

paragraph: Al-Mu'tadid also actively promoted the traditions of learning and science that had flourished under his early 9th-century predecessors al-Ma'mun (), al-Mu'tasim, and al-Wathiq (). Court patronage for scientific endeavours had declined under al-Mutawakkil, whose reign had marked a return to Sunni orthodoxy and an aversion to scientific inquiry, while his successors had lacked the luxury to engage in intellectual pursuits. Himself "keenly interested in natural sciences" and able to speak Greek, al-Mu'tadid promoted the career of one of the great translators of Greek texts and mathematicians of the era, Thabit ibn Qurra, and of the grammarians Ibn Durayd and al-Zajjaj, the latter of whom became tutor of the Caliph's children. One of the leading intellectual figures of the period was al-Mu'tadid's own tutor, Ahmad ibn al-Tayyib al-Sarakhsi, a pupil of the great philosopher al-Kindi. Al-Sarakhsi became a close companion of the Caliph, who appointed him to the lucrative post of market supervisor of Baghdad, but was executed in 896, after angering the Caliph. According to one account, al-Qasim ibn Ubayd Allah—who is frequently featured as the villain in anecdotes of al-Mu'tadid's court—inserted al-Sarakhsi's name in a list of rebels to be executed; the Caliph signed the list, and only learned of his mistake after his old master had been executed.

paragraph: Section::::Reign.:Domestic government.:Justice and punishment under al-Mu'tadid.

paragraph: In the dispensation of justice, he was characterized by what Malti-Douglas describes as "severity bordering on sadism". While tolerant of error and not above displays of sentimentality and tenderness, when his wrath was aroused he resorted to torture in the most ingenious ways, and had special torture chambers constructed underneath his palace. Chroniclers such as al-Mas'udi and the Mamluk historian al-Safadi describe in great detail the tortures inflicted by the Caliph on prisoners, as well as his practice of making an example of them by having them publicly displayed in Baghdad. Thus the Caliph is reported to have used bellows to inflate his prisoners, or burying them upside down in pits. At the same time they justify his severity as legitimate, being in the interests of the state. Malti-Douglas remarks that when al-Safadi compared al-Mu'tadid with the founder of the Abbasid state, calling him "al-Saffah the Second", this was not only to emphasize his restoration of the Caliphate's fortunes, but was also a direct allusion to the meaning of al-Saffah's name, "the Blood-Shedder".

paragraph: Section::::Reign.:Death and legacy.

paragraph: Al-Mu'tadid died at the Hasani Palace on 5 April 902, at the age of either 40 or 47. There were rumours that he had been poisoned, but it is more likely that the rigours of his campaigns, coupled with his dissolute life, severely weakened his health. During his final illness, he refused to follow the advice of his physicians, and even kicked one of them to death. He left behind him four sons and several daughters. Of his sons, three—al-Muktafi, al-Muqtadir, and al-Qahir—would rule as caliphs in turn, and only one, Harun, did not become caliph. Al-Mu'tadid was the first Abbasid caliph to be buried within the city of Baghdad. Like his sons after him, he was buried in the former Tahirid palace in the western part of the city, which was now used by the caliphs as a secondary residence.

paragraph: According to the Orientalist Karl Vilhelm Zetterstéen, al-Mu'tadid "had inherited his father's gifts as a ruler and was distinguished alike for his economy and his military ability", becoming "one of the greatest of the Abbasids in spite of his strictness and cruelty". Al-Mu'tadid's capable reign is credited with having arrested the Abbasid Caliphate's decline for a while, but his successes were too dependent on the presence of an energetic ruler at the helm, and ultimately his reign "was too short to reverse long-term trends and re-establish Abbasid power on a long-term basis" (Kennedy).

paragraph: Al-Mu'tadid had taken care to prepare his son and successor, al-Muktafi, for his role by appointing him as governor in Rayy and the Jazira. Although al-Muktafi tried to follow his father's policies, he lacked his energy. The heavily militarized system of al-Muwaffaq and al-Mu'tadid required the Caliph to actively participate in campaigns, setting a personal example and forming ties of loyalty, reinforced by patronage, between the ruler and the soldiers. Al-Muktafi, on the other hand, did not "in his character and comportment [...], being a sedentary figure, instil much loyalty, let alone inspiration, in the soldiers" (Michael Bonner). The Caliphate was still able to secure major successes over the next few years, including the reincorporation of the Tulunid domains in 904 and victories over the Qarmatians, but with al-Muktafi's death in 908, the so-called "Abbasid restoration" passed its high-water mark, and a new period of crisis began.

paragraph: Power was now wielded by the senior bureaucrats, who installed the weak and pliable al-Muqtadir on the throne. Over the next decades, the expenditure of both the court and the army increased, while maladministration increased and strife between military and bureaucratic factions intensified. By 932, when al-Muqtadir was assassinated, the Caliphate was effectively bankrupt, and authority soon devolved on a series of military strongmen who competed for control of the caliph and the title of "amīr al-umarāʾ". This process culminated in the capture of Baghdad in 946 by the Buyids, who put an end to caliphal independence even in name. Thereafter the caliphs remained as symbolic figureheads, but were divested of any military or political authority or independent financial resources.

description: Abbasid caliph

wikidata_label: Al-Mu'tadid

wikipedia_title: Al-Mu'tadid


text: American football

text: quarterback

text: National Football League

text: New York Giants

text: Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders

text: Washington Redskins

text: Penn State

text: Todd Blackledge

text: West Virginia

text: 1982 Oklahoma Sooners football team

text: Sports Illustrated

text: Maryland Terrapins

text: Boomer Esiason

text: 1982 Gator Bowl

text: Florida State

text: Big East

text: Pitt

text: 1983 Hall of Fame Bowl

text: University of Kentucky

text: Hula Bowl

text: Japan Bowl

text: Don Nehlen

text: National Football Foundation

text: drafted

text: 1984 NFL Draft

text: Phil Simms

text: Jeff Rutledge

text: New Orleans Saints

text: Minnesota Vikings

text: Raul Allegre

text: Bjorn Nittmo

text: Matt Bahr

text: Buffalo Bills

text: Chicago Bears

text: San Francisco 49ers

text: Jim Burt

text: Super Bowl XXV

text: ESPN

text: Super Bowl

text: Ray Handley

text: Tampa Bay Buccaneers

text: Cincinnati Bengals

text: Philadelphia Eagles

text: Washington Redskins

text: Los Angeles Raiders

text: Los Angeles Raiders

text: Denver Broncos

text: Pro Bowl

text: Washington Redskins

text: Gus Frerotte

text: Morgantown, West Virginia

text: Amish

text: Mennonite

text: the daughter of his college head coach

text: Chris Cuomo

text: ABC News

text: Whitney Houston

text: Super Bowl XXV

text: Ottis Anderson

text: Buffalo Bills

text: Jonathan Stupar

text: New York Giants

text: Nate Stupar

text: Pro Football Reference

categories: American people of Swiss descent,American Mennonites,Washington Redskins players,Living people,American football in Japan,1961 births,Los Angeles Raiders players,Super Bowl champions,American football quarterbacks,Penn State Nittany Lions football players,West Virginia Mountaineers football players,Players of American football from Pennsylvania,Oakland Raiders players,New York Giants players,People from Hillsdale, New Jersey,American Conference Pro Bowl players

paragraph: Jeff Hostetler

paragraph: William Jeffrey Hostetler (born April 22, 1961) is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League for the New York Giants, Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders, and Washington Redskins. His nickname is "Hoss."

paragraph: Section::::College career.

paragraph: Section::::College career.:Penn State.

paragraph: Hostetler started his career at Penn State, where he started three games for the 1980 season. But Todd Blackledge soon beat him out for the starting quarterback job, and Hostetler transferred to West Virginia. Hostetler sat out the 1981 season, due to NCAA transfer rules.

paragraph: Section::::College career.:West Virginia.

paragraph: Hostetler's first game as a Mountaineer was a 41-27 win over the #9 1982 Oklahoma Sooners football team, when he threw for four touchdowns and 321 yards. The upset victory earned Hostetler Offensive Player of the Week honors from "Sports Illustrated". Another big win that season was a week later against the Maryland Terrapins, who were led by Boomer Esiason. The Mountaineers won 19–18 against the Top 10 ranked Terps. The Terps lost the game on a two-point conversion, while Hostetler threw for 285 yards and a touchdown. Hostetler led the Mountaineers to the 1982 Gator Bowl, where they lost to Florida State 31–12. Hostetler totaled 1,916 yards with ten touchdown passes that season.

paragraph: In 1983, Hostetler led the #7 Mountaineers over Big East rival Pitt after a fourth quarter run to beat the Panthers 24–21, the first victory over Pitt in seven years. Hostetler led the game-winning drive that he capped out with a bootleg touchdown run for victory. In the 1983 Hall of Fame Bowl, Hostetler pulled out a come-from-behind 20-16 victory over the University of Kentucky, throwing two touchdowns. Hostetler finished his college career in the 1984 Hula Bowl and in the Japan Bowl. Hostetler threw for 2,345 yards and 16 touchdowns his senior season.

paragraph: Hostetler's two-year tenure at WVU led him to an 18–6 record under coach Don Nehlen. Hostetler ranks among single-season leaders at WVU in total offense, passing yards, pass completions, pass attempts, touchdown passes and passing efficiency. Hostetler also is the career leader in interception avoidance. Hostetler was named to the WVU all-time roster. In 1998, Hostetler was inducted into the West Virginia Sports Hall of Fame.

paragraph: Hostetler was named to the 1984 GTE/CoSIDA academic All-America team and that same year won the National Football Foundation postgraduate scholarship. He was also a fan favorite in Morgantown and inspired a record, "Ole Hoss (The Ballad of West Virginia's Jeff Hostetler)".

paragraph: Section::::Professional career.

paragraph: Section::::Professional career.:New York Giants.

paragraph: Hostetler was drafted by the Giants in the third round of the 1984 NFL Draft. In his first five seasons he played sparingly, rarely making an appearance as he was the third-string quarterback behind Phil Simms and Jeff Rutledge. His first start came late in the 1988 season, where he helped lead the Giants to victory in a road game against the New Orleans Saints. In 1989, he started a key game in the middle of the season, leading the Giants to a Monday night victory over the Minnesota Vikings. However, outside of these games, Hostetler's primary roles were mop-up duty and as a holder for kickers Raul Allegre, Bjorn Nittmo, and Matt Bahr. In 2007, in the episode of "" that profiled the 1990 Giants team, Hostetler noted that he was frustrated with his lack of playing time and volunteered to play other positions, including wide receiver and blocker on the punt return team. On December 15, 1990, leading up to the Giants' matchup with the Buffalo Bills, Hostetler became frustrated and recounted that he was all but done with football and was planning to retire at the end of the season.

paragraph: During the game against Buffalo, Hostetler was called in the game to replace Simms after Simms had suffered a foot injury. The Giants lost the game, dropping them to 11-3 on the year, but Hostetler was able to lead them to victories in their last two regular season games and their first playoff game against the Chicago Bears.

paragraph: In the NFC Championship against the San Francisco 49ers, Hostetler suffered a knee injury in the fourth quarter when Jim Burt tackled him below the knees. Although he was injured, Hostetler was able to walk off the field on his own and later returned to the game and engineered two late scoring drives, that culminated with a Bahr field goal, and a 15-13 victory.

paragraph: Hostetler started Super Bowl XXV; the Giants defeated the heavily favored Bills 20-19. He completed 20 of 32 passes for 222 yards with one touchdown. In 2008, ESPN ranked Hostetler's performance the 30th best quarterback performance in Super Bowl history. After reconsidering his retirement, he elected to return for the 1991 season.

paragraph: During the summer of 1991, new coach Ray Handley made a decision regarding his quarterbacks. Instead of giving the starting job back to the now-healthy Simms, the coach held an open competition that Hostetler would ultimately win. He then led the Giants to victory in the season opener against the 49ers at home, snapping their NFL-record 18 game road winning streak. In his twelfth start against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Hostetler broke his back and missed the rest of the season. Of the games Hostetler started (including the one he didn't finish), the Giants went 7-5. Simms, meanwhile, lost his first three starts against the lowly Cincinnati Bengals (who won only three times that year), the Philadelphia Eagles (a loss which eliminated the Giants from playoff contention), and the eventual Super Bowl champion Washington Redskins. The Giants managed to win their final matchup against the Houston Oilers to finish 8-8. Hostetler finished the season winning 7 of his 12 starts.

paragraph: When Hostetler returned from his injury in 1992, he once again was placed in an open competition with Simms for the starting quarterback position. This time, Simms won the job, but after Simms suffered a season-ending injury during a Week 4 loss to the Los Angeles Raiders, Hostetler again was pressed into service. Although he was now the starter, he was unable to stay healthy and he only managed 9 starts, playing in four more games, and missed three other games with injuries, including a concussion. While Hostetler had the best record of any Giants starter in 1992, (5-4), he was not retained by the team following the season and signed with the Los Angeles Raiders to be their starter in 1993.

paragraph: Section::::Professional career.:Los Angeles / Oakland Raiders.

paragraph: Following the 1993 regular season, Hostetler led the Raiders to an impressive 42-24 playoff win over the Denver Broncos. The veteran quarterback threw for 294 yards and three touchdowns in what would be the last NFL playoff game played in Los Angeles until the 2017 season, when the LA Rams hosted the Atlanta Falcons in the wild card round. In 1994, Hostetler was voted to his only career Pro Bowl after leading the Raiders to a 9-7 record. With the Raiders back in Oakland for the 1995 campaign, Hostetler got his team off to an impressive 8-2 record. However, a shoulder injury kept him out for all but the final game of the season. The Raiders lost their final six games and finished 8-8.

paragraph: Section::::Professional career.:Washington Redskins.

paragraph: He then joined the Washington Redskins in 1997 and retired after two seasons with them. It was during that time he saw his last significant playing time at quarterback; after starter Gus Frerotte suffered a bizarre injury after head butting a concrete wall while celebrating a touchdown in a game against Hostetler's former squad from New York, he was pressed into action and started the last three games, winning two and losing against his former team as the Giants clinched the division.

paragraph: During his last season he spent much of his time on injured-reserve and did not see any playing time in 1998.

paragraph: Hostetler retired with 1,357 of 2,338 completions for 16,430 yards and 94 touchdowns, with 71 interceptions. He also rushed for 1,391 yards and 17 touchdowns. Perhaps most impressive about Hostetler was his ability to perform very well in the post-season. In five playoff games, he completed 72 of 115 passes (62.6 percent) for 1,034 yards, seven touchdowns, no interceptions, and a 112.0 passer rating while going 4-1.

paragraph: Section::::Personal.

paragraph: Hostetler now lives in Morgantown, West Virginia, and owns a construction company. Hostetler is a descendant of the Amish-Mennonite immigrant, Jacob Hochstetler. With his wife, Vicky (the daughter of his college head coach), he has three sons. Hostetler graduated with a 3.85 GPA in Finance from West Virginia University. His nephew is Ryan Nehlen, who played wide receiver for the West Virginia Mountaineers.

paragraph: Chris Cuomo of ABC News interviewed Hostetler as part of "One Moment in Time: The Life of Whitney Houston", a two-hour special on ABC shortly after the 2012 death of singer Whitney Houston. In Super Bowl XXV, Houston performed "The Star-Spangled Banner", and Hostetler and Super Bowl XXV MVP Ottis Anderson reflected on Houston's performance in that game.

paragraph: He is the uncle of former Buffalo Bills tight-end Jonathan Stupar and New York Giants linebacker Nate Stupar.

paragraph: Section::::External links.

paragraph: BULLET::::- The Hoss Foundation: A charitable organization founded by Jeff Hostetler

paragraph: BULLET::::- Pro Football Reference

description: Professional football quarterback

wikidata_label: Jeff Hostetler

wikipedia_title: Jeff Hostetler