Jahza (1) composed an elegy for him, saying:
“I lost, with Ibn Durayd, every single benefit (2) …
when he became the third to lie among stone and dust.
I used to weep for the passing of generosity alone (3) …
but now I weep for the loss of generosity (4) and of learning (5).”
57 – al-Qāhir bi-Allah, Muḥammad ibn al-Muʿtaḍid bi-Allah Aḥmad*
The caliph, Abū Manṣūr Muḥammad ibn al-Muʿtaḍid bi-Allah Aḥmad ibn al-Muwaffaq Ṭalḥah (6) ibn al-Mutawakkil.
He was entrusted with the caliphate in 320 AH, at the moment his brother al-Muqtadir was killed.
He was dark-complexioned, of medium stature, with auburn (7) hair and a long nose; in him were malice, arrogance, and recklessness.
Al-Muqtadir had already been deposed in 317 AH, whereupon allegiance was given to this al-Qāhir,
(1) His biography will be given later under no. 84 in the present volume.
(2) Nuzhat al-albaʾ reads: “manfaʿa” (benefit).
(3) Dhayl Amāli al-Qālī has: “mujtahidan” (striving), whereas Nuzhat al-albaʾ gives: “āwina” (moments).
(4) In Inbāh al-ruwāt the reading is: “al-faḍl” (virtue).
(5) The two verses are cited in: Dhayl Amāli al-Qālī, 49; Ṭabaqāt al-Zabīdī, 201; Tārīkh Baghdād, 2/197; Nuzhat al-albaʾ, 178; Inbāh al-ruwāt, 3/95; Mirʾāt al-jinān, 2/284; Bughyat al-wuʿāt, 32.
(*) See also: Murūj al-dhahab, 2/513; Tārīkh Baghdād, 1/339-340; al-Muntazam, 6/241, 368; al-Kāmil, 8/244 ff.; al-Nibrās, 113; al-ʿIbar, 2/250-251; al-Wāfī bi-l-wafayāt, 2/34-35; Nukat al-himyān, 236-237; al-Bidāya wa-l-nihāya, 11/170-171, 178, 223; al-Nujūm al-zāhira, 3/303-304; Tārīkh al-khulafāʾ, 386-390; Shadharāt al-dhahab, 2/349-350.
(6) According to Tārīkh Baghdād, 1/339, his name was Muhammad; some sources say Talha.
(7) Al-ṣahba is a black hue tinged with red.