al-Muktafi

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For the 12th-century caliph with a similar name, see al-Muqtafi.

al-Muktafi
Reign5 April 902 – 13 August 908
Predecessoral-Mu'tadid
Successoral-Muqtadir
Bornc. 877/8
Abbasid Caliphate
Died13 August 908 (aged 31)
Baghdad, Abbasid Caliphate
Burial
Baghdad
Consort
  • Bint Khumarawayh
  • Ghusn
Issue
Names
Abū Muḥammad ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn Ṭalḥa ibn Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad ibn Hārūn al-Muktafī bi'Llāh
DynastyAbbasid
Fatheral-Mu'tadid
MotherJijak
ReligionSunni Islam

Abū Muḥammad ʿAlī ibn

Tulunid dynasty. The war with the Byzantine Empire continued with alternating success, although the Arabs scored a major victory in the Sack of Thessalonica in 904. His death in 908 opened the way for the installation of a weak ruler, al-Muqtadir, by the palace bureaucracy, and began the terminal decline of the Abbasid Caliphate that ended in 946 with the caliphs becoming puppet rulers under the Buyid dynasty
.

Early life

Ali ibn Ahmad was born in 877/8, the son of Ahmad ibn Talha, the future caliph al-Mu'tadid (r. 892–902) by a Turkish slave-girl, named Čiček ("flower", Jijak in Arabic).[3][4] He was the first caliph named after caliph Ali.[5]

At the time of his birth, the

rebellion of the Zanj slaves threatened Baghdad itself, and it took al-Muwaffaq and al-Mu'tadid years of hard campaigning before they were finally subdued in 893.[7]

Following his rise to the throne, al-Mu'tadid continued his father's policies, and restored caliphal authority in the

Shi'ism.[9][10]

Al-Mu'tadid took care to prepare Ali, his oldest son and heir-apparent, for the succession by appointing him as a provincial governor: first in

Byzantine frontier areas, when al-Mu'tadid deposed the last local autonomous governor, Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Shaybani. The future al-Muktafi took up residence at Raqqa.[3][11][12] The religious scholar Ibn Abi al-Dunya, who enjoyed al-Mu'tadid's confidence, was appointed as Ali's tutor.[13]

Caliphate

When al-Mu'tadid died on 5 April 902, al-Muktafi succeeded him unopposed.[3] His father's vizier, al-Qasim ibn Ubayd Allah, ordered the oath of allegiance to be taken in his name, and took the precaution of locking up all Abbasid princes until al-Muktafi arrived in Baghdad from Raqqa (20 April).[14][15]

Character and government

Sack of Baghdad in 1258[16][17]

The new caliph was 25 years old on his accession. The historian al-Tabari, who lived during his reign, describes him as of "medium size, handsome, of a delicate complexion, with [a full head of] beautiful hair and a luxurious beard".[2][18]

Al-Muktafi inherited his father's love of buildings.

Friday mosque to the palace, the Jami al-Qasr ('Palace Mosque'), now occupied by the Jami al-Khulafa.[19][20] He also emulated his father in avarice and parsimony, which allowed him to leave, despite a short reign with almost continuous warfare, a considerable surplus.[3][21][a] When al-Muktafi left Baghdad in May 903 and went to the old capital of Samarra, with the intention of moving his seat there, he was quickly dissuaded by the high cost the rebuilding of the city would entail.[23] His easy-going nature, on the other hand, was the antithesis of his father, who was famous for his extreme severity and the cruel and imaginative punishments he inflicted. Al-Muktafi's popularity received a major boostr when, soon after his accession, he destroyed his father's underground prisons and gave the site to the people, released prisoners and returned lands confiscated by the government.[3][24] He is also notable for personally attending the sessions of the dīwān al-maẓālim, where he heard the complaints and petitions of the common people.[5]

Role of the vizier al-Qasim

Al-Muktafi was not as steadfast as his father, and was easily swayed by the officials at court.[2] The early period of his caliphate was dominated by the vizier al-Qasim ibn Ubayd Allah. A very able man, he was also ambitious; he had plotted to assassinate al-Mu'tadid shortly before the latter's death, and now ruthlessly eliminated any rivals for influence over the new caliph.[3][25]

Thus al-Qasim ordered the execution of the imprisoned Saffarid ruler, Amr ibn al-Layth, when al-Muktafi, immediately after his arrival in Baghdad, asked after his well-being and indicated that he wanted to treat him well.[26] Shortly after, the vizier managed to discredit al-Mu'tadid's loyal commander-in-chief, Badr al-Mu'tadidi. Badr was forced to flee Baghdad but surrendered after being promised a pardon by the vizier's agents, only to be executed on 14 August.[27] A few days later, al-Qasim ordered the arrest of an uncle of the Caliph, Abd al-Wahid, a son of al-Muwaffaq, who never heard from again;[28] and in September 903, al-Husayn ibn Amr al-Nasrani, a Christian secretary, whom al-Muktafi initially favoured and who opposed al-Qasim, was denounced and exiled, his offices being given to al-Qasim's sons, al-Husayn and Muhammad.[29] Al-Qasim even succeeded in having his little daughter betrothed to al-Muktafi's infant son Abu Ahmad Muhammad in March 904,[30] and his eminent position in the state was highlighted by the award, for the first time in the Islamic world, of a special honorific title, Wali al-Dawla.[3][25]

In the bureaucratic struggles of the period, al-Qasim ibn Ubayd Allah favoured the Banu'l-Jarrah and resisted the pro-Shi'ite leanings of the Banu'l-Furat. The leading representative of the Banu'l-Furat,

Ali ibn Isa al-Jarrah, but the latter refused the post, and Ali ibn al-Furat quickly gained the favour of al-Abbas al-Jarjara'i and the Caliph.[3][31]

Campaigns

Al-Muktafi's brief reign was dominated by warfare,[3] but he was unlike his father, the "ghazī caliph" par excellence. Al-Mu'tadid had actively participated in campaigns, setting a personal example and allowing for the formation of 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, instill much loyalty, let alone inspiration, in the soldiers", according to the historian Michael Bonner.[32]

Relations with the eastern warlords

Al-Mu'tadid had had a turbulent relationship with the Saffarids, who ruled most of Persia: their rule over the eastern parts of the Islamic world was recognized by Baghdad, but the caliph and the Saffarids contested control over western Persia, notably the provinces of

Samanids captured Rayy in the same year.[35] Like his father before him, al-Muktafi preferred to reach a modus vivendi with the Saffarids, and in the next year confirmed them in their control over Fars.[35][34]

Baghdad's relations with the quasi-independent ruler of

Adharbayjan, Yusuf ibn Abi'l-Saj, had never been settled and became increasingly strained under al-Muktafi. In 908, an army under Hakam al-Muflihi was sent against Ibn Abi'l-Saj, but after al-Muktafi's death soon after, a settlement was reached: Ibn Abi'l-Saj acknowledged caliphal suzerainty and was named governor of Armenia and Adharbayjan.[5][36]

Qarmatian uprisings

The early caliphates were always threatened by the radical

Aghlabid emirate there, an Abbasid vassal. Its conquest was completed in 909, laying the foundations of the Isma'ili Fatimid Caliphate.[42]

In July 903, al-Muktafi decided to personally campaign against the Qarmatians, and left Baghdad for Raqqa at the head of the army. Al-Muktafi remained at Raqqa, and actual command was given to the head of the department of the army (dīwān al-jund),

sahib al-shurta (chief of security) of the capital, Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Wathiqi, presided over the public execution of the Qarmatian leaders and Qarmatian sympathizers rounded up from Kufa and Baghdad.[44] In the same year, the Abbasid governor of Bahrayn defeated the local Qarmatians and recaptured the town of Qatif.[35]

The Abbasid victory near Hama did not yet fully eradicate the Qarmatians from the area. Taking advantage of the absence of the local governor,

al-Qadisiyya and destroyed them.[48] With these defeats, the Qarmatian movement virtually ceased to exist in the Syrian Desert, although their counterparts in Bahrayn remained an active threat for several decades to come.[49][50]

The distinguished service of al-Husayn ibn Hamdan during these campaigns not only established him as one of the leading Abbasid commanders, but also helped the rise of his family, the

Hamdanids, to power and prominence: in 905, his brother Abu'l-Hayja Abdallah was appointed governor of Mosul, which became the family's main powerbase in the decades to come.[51]

Recovery of Tulunid Syria and Egypt

Blank map of the Middle East, with green shaded areas for the Abbasid Caliphate, and the major regions and provinces marked
Map showing the result of al-Mu'tadid's campaigns of consolidation, c. 900: areas under direct Abbasid control in dark green, areas under loose Abbasid suzerainty, but under autonomous governors, in light green. Under al-Muktafi, the western provinces of the Levant and Egypt were re-incorporated into the Abbasid empire.

The defeat of the Qarmatians at Hama also opened the way for the Abbasids to recover the provinces of southern Syria and Egypt, held by the Tulunid dynasty. The Tulunid regime had already been weakened by internal strife and the rivalries of the various ethnic groups in the army, which led to the defection of the commander Badr al-Hammami and other senior officers to the Abbasids; the regime was further weakened by the destructive raids of the Qarmatians and its inability to deal with it.[52][53] On 24 May 904, Muhammad ibn Sulayman left Baghdad at the head of an army, numbering 10,000 according to al-Tabari, and tasked with recovering southern Syria and Egypt itself from the Tulunids.[54] His campaign was to be assisted from the sea by a fleet from the frontier districts of Cilicia under Damian of Tarsus. Damian led a fleet up the river Nile, raided its coasts, and prevented supplies for the Tulunid forces from being ferried over it.[52]

The Abbasid advance was mostly unopposed, and in December, the Tulunid emir

al-Arish in December 905, but in the end he was defeated and captured in May 906 and brought prisoner to Baghdad.[57][58]

In 906, al-Muktafi married a daughter of the second Tulunid ruler,

Khumarawayh. She was probably a half-sister of the famous Qatr al-Nada, another daughter of Khumarawayh who was intended for him but ended up being married to his father in 893.[59][60]

Byzantine front

Al-Muktafi kept up the perennial conflict with the

Lamus in Cilicia, but was interrupted because the Byzantines reneged on the agreed terms.[65] After further negotiations, the exchange was completed in August 908.[18]

Medieval miniature showing warriors driving a city's populace into their ships
The Sack of Thessalonica by Leo of Tripoli, miniature from the Madrid Skylitzes

In the summer of 904, a Byzantine renegade in Abbasid service,

Thessalonica, which he sacked after a three-day siege on 31 July 904. The sack of the city brought the Muslim fleet enormous booty and many captives who were taken to be sold as slaves, including the eyewitness John Kaminiates, who wrote the main account of the city's siege and fall.[66][67]

On land, however, the Byzantines held the upper hand: the contemporary Baghdadi historian

Halys River before turning back laden with spoils and captives.[5][71] On the sea, Himerios won a victory over an Arab fleet on St. Thomas's day, 6 October 906.[72] In spring 907, however, Andronikos Doukas and his son Constantine defected to the Abbasids, the victims of the intrigues of Leo VI's powerful eunuch chamberlain, Samonas.[73][74]

A further and unique case of al-Muktafi's diplomatic relations is his correspondence with

marriage alliance. Bertha was apparently motivated by the threat posed by the Arab colony at Fraxinetum, and turned to al-Muktafi in the—mistaken—belief that the caliph still exercised real power over the Aghlabid rulers of Ifriqiya. Al-Muktafi in turn replied with a letter of his own, but nothing came of this long-distance correspondence.[5][75][76]

Death and legacy

Al-Muktafi was a successful ruler, as well as "a man of sensibility, a gourmet and an appreciator of the verses of poets like Ibn al-Rumi".[3] As the historian Harold Bowen writes, "the Caliphate seemed in his day almost to have regained its former glory", having overcome the Qarmatian challenge and regained Egypt and Syria.[77] His fiscal policies, building upon those of his father, also ensured prosperity and a full treasury, despite the drain and devastation of continuous warfare.[3]

Al-Muktafi, however, was of a sickly disposition since childhood;[77] indeed, he may have been ill for much of his reign.[55] In late spring 908 he fell gravely ill, and for about three months, the caliph lay incapacitated, his situation alternately improving and deteriorating. It soon became clear, however, that he would not survive his illness.[78] Al-Muktafi had nine sons, but they were all underage,[79] and due to his illness, he was unable to determine a successor.[55] The vizier, al-Abbas al-Jarjara'i, sounded out the leading officials of the bureaucracy on the issue—an unprecedented act that demonstrated the monopoly of power now exercised by the civilian bureaucrats. Muhammad ibn Dawud al-Jarrah favoured the experienced and capable Abbasid prince Abdallah ibn al-Mu'tazz, but the vizier eventually followed the advice of Ali ibn al-Furat, who suggested al-Muktafi's 13-year-old brother Ja'far, on the grounds that he would be weak and pliable, and easily manipulated by the senior officials. The choice of Ja'far, who became Caliph al-Muqtadir (r. 908–932), was, in the words of historian Hugh Kennedy, "a sinister development" and 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".[80][81]

Al-Muktafi seems to have recovered just enough to sanction his brother's nomination, before dying on 13 August 908.

Ibn Ra'iq to the post of amir al-umara in 936, the caliphs became mere puppet rulers, and Baghdad itself would finally be captured by the Iranian Shi'a Buyid dynasty in 946.[84]

During these turmoils, al-Muktafi's posthumous son, Abdallah, was installed as caliph by the warlord Tuzun in 944–946, with the regnal name al-Mustakfi.[85][86] Abu Ahmad Muhammad, who had wed al-Qasim ibn Ubayd Allah's daughter, was himself involved in a conspiracy against al-Muqtadir in 930, and was briefly a candidate for the caliphal throne in 932, after al-Muqtadir's downfall. He died in 933.[87][88]

Footnotes

  1. Mas'udi and Ibn al-Zubayr, give smaller sums: 8 million dinars, or 25 million silver dirhams. The larger sums are considered suspect, as they are probably included more as points of criticism on al-Muqtadir, who squandered it, rather than accurate accounts.[22]
  2. Islamic) years, 32 years less one month, or 33 years.[18]

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  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Zetterstéen & Bosworth 1993, pp. 542–543.
  4. ^ Rosenthal 1985, p. 185 (note 905).
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Özaydın 2006, p. 536.
  6. ^ Bonner 2010, pp. 305, 308–313, 314, 323.
  7. ^ Bonner 2010, pp. 313–327.
  8. ^ Bonner 2010, pp. 332–337.
  9. ^ Kennedy 2004, pp. 175, 180.
  10. ^ Bonner 2010, pp. 333–334, 350.
  11. ^ Kennedy 2004, pp. 182–183.
  12. ^ Bonner 2010, pp. 336–337.
  13. ^ El-Hibri 2021, p. 162.
  14. ^ Bowen 1928, p. 58.
  15. ^ Rosenthal 1985, pp. 102–103.
  16. ^ Le Strange 1922, pp. 252–253.
  17. ^ Bowen 1928, p. 59 (note 6).
  18. ^ a b c Rosenthal 1985, p. 185.
  19. ^ Le Strange 1922, pp. 251–254.
  20. ^ Duri 1960, p. 898.
  21. ^ Bowen 1928, pp. 26, 59–60.
  22. ^ Rosenthal 1985, p. 187, esp. note 907.
  23. ^ Rosenthal 1985, pp. 120–121.
  24. ^ Bowen 1928, pp. 26, 59.
  25. ^ a b Bowen 1928, pp. 58–59.
  26. ^ Rosenthal 1985, pp. 103–104.
  27. ^ Rosenthal 1985, pp. 104–111.
  28. ^ Rosenthal 1985, p. 111.
  29. ^ Rosenthal 1985, pp. 121, 126–127.
  30. ^ Rosenthal 1985, p. 145.
  31. ^ Bowen 1928, pp. 60–70.
  32. ^ Bonner 2010, pp. 332, 335, 337.
  33. ^ Bonner 2010, p. 336.
  34. ^ a b Bosworth 1975, p. 122.
  35. ^ a b c d Özaydın 2006, p. 535.
  36. ^ Madelung 1975, pp. 229–230.
  37. ^ Bonner 2010, pp. 324–325.
  38. ^ Bonner 2010, pp. 326–327.
  39. ^ Bianquis 1998, pp. 106–107.
  40. ^ Kennedy 2004, pp. 285–287.
  41. ^ Bonner 2010, pp. 327–328.
  42. ^ Bonner 2010, pp. 328–330.
  43. ^ Rosenthal 1985, pp. 127–141.
  44. ^ Rosenthal 1985, pp. 141–144.
  45. ^ Rosenthal 1985, pp. 158–161.
  46. ^ Rosenthal 1985, pp. 162–168.
  47. ^ Rosenthal 1985, p. 176.
  48. ^ Rosenthal 1985, pp. 172–179.
  49. ^ Kennedy 2004, pp. 185, 286.
  50. ^ a b Bianquis 1998, p. 108.
  51. ^ Kennedy 2004, pp. 267–268.
  52. ^ a b Rosenthal 1985, p. 151.
  53. ^ Kennedy 2004, pp. 184–185.
  54. ^ Rosenthal 1985, p. 146.
  55. ^ a b c Kennedy 2004, p. 185.
  56. ^ Rosenthal 1985, pp. 151–152.
  57. ^ Bianquis 1998, p. 110.
  58. ^ Rosenthal 1985, pp. 152–153, 156, 169–170.
  59. ^ Rosenthal 1985, p. 170.
  60. ^ Bianquis 1998, p. 106.
  61. ^ Rosenthal 1985, p. 117.
  62. ^ Tougher 1997, p. 186.
  63. ^ Rosenthal 1985, p. 120.
  64. ^ Rosenthal 1985, p. 133.
  65. ^ Rosenthal 1985, pp. 153–155.
  66. ^ PmbZ, Leon (von Tripolis) bzw. Tripolites (#24397).
  67. ^ Tougher 1997, pp. 186–188.
  68. ^ Tougher 1997, p. 189.
  69. ^ Rosenthal 1985, pp. 147, 151.
  70. ^ Rosenthal 1985, p. 171.
  71. ^ Rosenthal 1985, p. 172.
  72. ^ Tougher 1997, p. 191.
  73. ^ Tougher 1997, pp. 208–209, 213–216.
  74. ^ Rosenthal 1985, pp. 180–181.
  75. ^ El-Hibri 2021, p. 161.
  76. ^ Metcalfe 2009, pp. 40–41.
  77. ^ a b Bowen 1928, p. 60.
  78. ^ Bowen 1928, pp. 84, 86.
  79. ^ Bowen 1928, p. 84.
  80. ^ Kennedy 2004, pp. 185–186.
  81. ^ Bonner 2010, p. 349.
  82. ^ Rosenthal 1985, p. 187.
  83. ^ Kennedy 2004, pp. 101, 185.
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Sources

al-Muktafi
Born: 877/8 Died: 13 August 908
Sunni Islam titles
Preceded by Caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate
5 April 902 – 13 August 908 		Succeeded by
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