Judge Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf relates: When al-Muqtadir’s accession was finally secured, the vizier al-ʿAbbās judged him too young, and the public likewise murmured about his tender age. The vizier therefore set about deposing him and installing his brother Muḥammad (1).
Not long after, Muḥammad and the chief of police quarreled in the vizier’s council. The police chief became insolent; Muḥammad flew into a rage, suffered a stroke on the spot, and died a few days later.
A number of men then agreed to raise Ibn al-Muʿtazz to the caliphate, and he consented on the condition that no blood be shed.
At their head were Muḥammad ibn Dāwūd ibn al-Jarrāḥ, Abū al-Muthannā Aḥmad ibn Yaʿqūb the judge, and al-Ḥusayn ibn Ḥamdān. They resolved to eliminate al-Muqtadir, his vizier, and Fātik.
On the twentieth of Rabīʿ al-Awwal in the year six (2) — 296 AH — the leading men mounted. Al-Ḥusayn charged the vizier and killed him.
Fātik protested, so al-Ḥusayn wheeled on him and slew him as well. He then advanced toward al-Muqtadir, who was playing polo (3). When al-Muqtadir (4) heard the uproar he withdrew into the palace. Ibn Ḥamdān was forced back to al-Mukharram (5) and lodged in the house of Sulaymān ibn Wahb. He then presented himself to Ibn al-Muʿtazz. The amirs and judges assembled— all save al-Muqtadir’s personal entourage and Ibn al-Furāt— and they pledged allegiance to ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Muʿtazz, bestowing upon him the honorific “al-Ghālib billāh” (6).
Ibn al-Jarrāḥ (7) was appointed vizier, and the decrees were dispatched.