“Say to him: an old shaykh, worn-out and gravely ill; our meeting is near, and the Judge is Allah.”

The messenger conveyed these words to Aḥmad, who lowered his head in silence and kept repeating them to himself. He then ordered that Bakkar be moved from the prison to a house rented for him, and it was there that he continued to recite and teach ḥadith. When the ruler died, Abu Bakrah was told, “Return to your own home.” He replied, “This house is on lease, yet it suits me,” and so he remained there (1).

Al-Ṭaḥāwī says: “He stayed in that house forty days after Aḥmad’s death and then passed away.”

I say: The heir apparent al-Muwaffaq had by then taken full control of affairs and had tightened the reins on his brother, the caliph al-Muʿtamid.

Al-Ṣūlī relates: “Al-Muʿtamid, dismayed by his brother, opened correspondence with Aḥmad ibn Ṭūlūn, they reached an agreement, and al-Muʿtamid composed the following verses:

Is it not astonishing that one such as I
Should find even the little he desires withheld,
While the whole world is devoured in his name,
And yet none of it lies in his own hands? (2)

We have been informed that Ibn Ṭūlūn then gathered the scholars and leading figures and said: ‘Al-Muwaffaq Abū Aḥmad has broken faith with the Commander of the Faithful; depose him from the succession!’ They all assented—except Bakkar ibn Qutaybah.

Bakkar said, “You yourself brought me the Caliph al-Muʿtamid’s letter appointing him heir; produce another letter from him deposing him.”

Ibn Ṭūlūn retorted, “The Caliph is under duress and powerless!”

Bakkar replied, “I know nothing of that.”

Ibn Ṭūlūn then said to him, “People have deluded you with their claim, ‘There is no one in the world like Bakkar.’ You have grown senile.” He thereupon had him shackled and imprisoned, and seized all the stipends that had accrued to him over the years—ten thousand dinars; it is said that the money was found with its seals unbroken.

When news of this reached al-Muwaffaq, he ordered that Ibn Ṭūlūn be cursed from the pulpits.