Then you vanished, leaving neither trace nor sign—
So much so that it is as though you had never, for a single day, been anyone at all. (1)

Of his sons, the caliphate passed to al-Muktafi ʿAli, al-Muqtadir Jaʿfar, and al-Qahir Muhammad; he also left several daughters, and a son named Harun.

231 – al-Muktafi bi-llah, Caliph ʿAli ibn al-Muʿtaḍid bi-llah
The caliph, Abu Muhammad ʿAli ibn al-Muʿtaḍid bi-llah, Abu al-ʿAbbas Ahmad ibn al-Muwaffaq Talha ibn al-Mutawakkil, of the Abbasid line.

He was born in 264 AH.

In his own day, his beauty was proverbial.
He was of medium stature, with a radiant complexion, black hair, and a handsome beard.

He received the pledge of allegiance to the caliphate, in accordance with his father’s testament, upon the latter’s death in Jumada I, 289 AH, and he reigned for six and a half years.

His father died while he was away, so the vizier Abu al-Husayn al-Qasim ibn ʿUbayd Allah secured the bayʿa for him and took charge of everything his father had left in the state treasuries. That comprised ten thousand thousand dinars of Egyptian gold, jewels of equivalent value, and comparable amounts of silver dirhams, horses, and garments. Al-Qasim distributed the stipends among the troops,