Al-Ṣūlī relates: When al-Rāḍī died, Bujkam (1), who was then in Wāsiṭ, dispatched instructions to his secretary, Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī al-Kūfī, to gather the judges, the leading notables, and al-Rāḍī’s vizier Sulaymān ibn al-Ḥasan so that they might consult about appointing a new imām—that is, a caliph. Ḥusayn ibn al-Faḍl ibn al-Maʾmūn sent al-Kūfī ten thousand dinars in an effort to buy his support, and forwarded another forty thousand dinars for him to distribute among the military commanders, but none of that proved effective. The company pledged allegiance to Ibrāhīm, who was thirty-four years old; his mother’s name was Khalūb.

He was handsome, of well-proportioned build with a ruddy complexion, light eyes, and a thick beard. After performing two units of prayer, he mounted the throne, changed nothing in the administration, and did not consummate relations with his slave-girl.

He was given to fasting and other acts of devotion, did not drink wine, and used to say, “I desire no companion at my gatherings except the mushaf.” (2)

He kept Sulaymān ibn al-Ḥasan in the vizierate, though the man was virtually powerless, overshadowed by Bujkam’s secretary. A few days later the Green Dome—Baghdad’s crown and the Abbasids’ pride—collapsed. Al-Manṣūr had erected it to a height of eighty cubits, and beneath it stood a vaulted hall twenty cubits long and the same in width. Its summit fell during a storm of heavy rain and violent thunder (3), and Baghdad was at the same time suffering a drought. Al-Muttaqī then dismissed his vizier and appointed Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Maymūn in his place.

Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Barīdī came up from Baṣra seeking the vizierate; it was granted to him, and Ibn Maymūn went out to meet him. Ibn Maymūn’s tenure had lasted only a month, but al-Barīdī fled after twenty-four days when the troops rioted, demanding their pay. Thereupon Qarārīṭī (4) was made vizier, only to be removed a month later.