“He has instructed me to send you back.”

The Caliph retorted, “Are you my servant or his?”

“We are all your servants so long as you obey Allah,” Ibn Kundāj replied, “but you disobeyed Him when you left your post and let your enemy loose upon the Muslims.”

He then rose, posted a detachment to guard the Caliph, and sent word to him asking that Ibn Khāqān and a number of others be handed over for questioning. The Caliph complied, and when the men arrived Ibn Kundāj said to them, “No one has wronged the Imam and Islam as you have. You spirited him out of his palace with only a handful of men, and here is Hārūn al-Shārī across from you with a great host; had he captured the Caliph it would have been a lasting disgrace to Islam.” He placed them under guard as well and ordered al-Muʿtamid to turn back.

The Caliph said, “Swear to me that you will accompany me downstream and will not hand me over.” Ibn Kundāj swore, and they proceeded to Sāmarrāʾ.

Al-Muwaffaq’s secretary, Saʿid, met them, lodged the Caliph in the house of Aḥmad ibn al-Khaṣīb, forbade him access to the Caliphal palace, set five hundred men to watch him, and prevented anyone from meeting with him.

Al-Muwaffaq sent Ibn Kundāj robes of honor and a great sum of gold.

Al-Ṣūlī relates: The Caliph sought a way out from under his brother’s control and secretly corresponded with Ibn Ṭūlūn. Among the lines he wrote were:

“Is it not a marvel that a man like me
Should see the merest trifle kept from his reach,
While in his name the whole world is consumed,
Yet nothing of it rests in his own hands⦗1⦘?!”

Al-Muwaffaq conferred upon Saʿid ibn Mukhallad the title “Holder of the Two Vizierates,” and upon Ibn Kundāj the title “Bearer of the Two Swords.”

When Ibn Ṭūlūn heard of these developments, he assembled the leading men and declared, “Al-Muwaffaq’s breach of faith with the Commander of the Faithful is now undeniable; remove him from the succession!” They deposed him, all save the judge Bakkār ibn Qutayba. He said—