Al-Ṣūlī said: Al-Rāḍī was once asked to deliver the Friday sermon; he mounted the pulpit of Sāmarrāʾ, and I was in attendance. He captivated every ear and spoke with consummate eloquence, then he led us in prayer (1).

People reported that al-Rāḍī’s stomach was inflamed; he suffered a severe bout of dysentery (2), and excessive intercourse (3) ruined his constitution.

He passed away in mid-Rabīʿ al-Ākhir, 329 AH, at the age of thirty-two years and a few months.

His children were: ʿAbd Allāh—nominated for the succession—Abū Jaʿfar Aḥmad, and a daughter, all of them born to concubines.

The oath of allegiance was then given to his brother, al-Muttaqī lillāh Ibrāhīm.

During those years Iraq was racked by continuous uprisings and wars, and the authority of the caliphate waned—Allah’s decree is done.

The revolt of Ibn Rāʾiq erupted, followed by that of Ibn al-Barīdī; people’s affairs became utterly confused (4), calamity spread, and the commander of commanders, Muḥammad ibn Yāqūt, died in prison.

In al-Rāḍī’s days Muḥammad ibn Rāʾiq rose to great power, leaving al-Rāḍī without any means to restrain him. Ibn Rāʾiq’s children were Abū al-Faḍl ʿAbd Allāh, Aḥmad, and al-Sitt Hajʿah.

59 – al-Muttaqī lillāh, Ibrāhīm son of al-Muqtadir son of al-Muʿtaḍid, the ʿAbbāsid *

The Caliph, Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm ibn al-Muqtadir ibn al-Muʿtaḍid, the ʿAbbāsid.