to al-Muʿtazz together with gifts and precious presents. Salih ibn Wasif thereupon rose in wrath over his father’s slaying; he put al-Muʿtazz’s secretaries—Ahmad ibn Israʾil, al-Hasan ibn Makhlad, and Abu Nuh—in fetters, confiscated their property, and the contents of the public treasuries were reduced to almost nothing.

Al-Muʿtazz was then deposed, and his mother Qabiha went into hiding. She offered money to Salih, but he treated her stingily; what surfaced of her wealth amounted to about three thousand thousand dinars.

Ibn Wasif said, “May Allah disgrace her! She exposed her son to death for the sake of fifty thousand dinars with which she hoped to satisfy the Turks (1).” Ibn Wasif subsequently put Abu Nuh and Ahmad ibn Israʾil to death, and the post of the caliphate grew feeble—unto Allah belongs the command.

Among his children he left ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Muʿtazz and Hamzah.

209 – al-Muhtadi bi-Allah ibn al-Wathiq ibn al-Muʿtasim, the Abbasid

Commander of the Believers, al-Muhtadi bi-Allah, Abu Ishaq—also Abu ʿAbd Allah—Muhammad ibn al-Wathiq Harun ibn al-Muʿtasim Muhammad ibn al-Rashid, the Abbasid.

His birth: during the reign of his grandfather.

He was given the oath of allegiance when he was in his thirty-odd years, on the night before the last of Rajab in the year 255 (2); he would accept no one’s pledge until al-Muʿtazz bi-Allah had been brought. When he saw him, he rose to greet him,