He lived twenty-three years ⦗1⦘.

ʿAlī ibn Harb said: “I was ushered into the presence of al-Muʿtazz bi-llāh so that he might hear hadith from me; never have I seen a caliph more handsome than he. His mother was a Byzantine.”

He received the pledge of allegiance when al-Mustaʿin was deposed ⦗1⦘; after a few months in office he removed his brother al-Muʾayyad bi-llāh Ibrāhīm from the succession. Ibrāhīm did not live long before he died. Fearing that people would accuse him of poisoning him, al-Muʿtazz summoned the judges to view the body, and they found no trace of foul play. Allah knows best.

Al-Muʿtazz’s rule was brittle in the face of the Turks. The commanders joined forces, saying, “Give us our pay.” ⦗2⦘ Ṣāliḥ ibn Waṣīf—whom the caliph dreaded—arrived. Al-Muʿtazz asked his mother for money with which to satisfy them, but she withheld it. The Turks therefore gathered to depose him, joined by Ṣāliḥ, Bābiyākū, and Muḥammad ibn Bugha. They armed themselves, came to the palace, and sent for the caliph to come out. He replied, “I have taken medicine and am weak.”

A party of them then stormed in, dragged him out and beat him. They stood him in the scorching sun; the poor man writhed while they slapped him, saying, “Renounce the caliphate!”

They next brought the chief judge ⦗3⦘ and several trustworthy witnesses, formally deposed him, and summoned Muḥammad ibn al-Wāthiq from Baghdad—whom al-Muʿtazz had previously distanced. Al-Muʿtazz surrendered the caliphate to him; they pledged allegiance to him and styled him al-Muhtadī bi-llāh.

Five days later the Turkish leaders seized al-Muʿtazz, took him into a bathhouse, subjected him to suffocating heat until he was parched, then denied him water until he was on the brink of death. They finally gave him ice-cold water to drink, and he collapsed dead—may Allah have mercy on him. This occurred in Shaʿbān of the year 255 AH.