and Ḥumayd ibn Zanjawayh (1); ʿAmr ibn ʿUthmān ibn Kathīr ibn Dīnār al-Himsī (2); and Abū al-Taqī Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Malik al-Yazanī (3).

[Then the year 252 AH began]

Account of al-Muʿtazz’s Caliphate after al-Mustaʿīn’s Abdication

The year opened with the caliphate firmly settled upon Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Muʿtazz, Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar al-Mutawakkil ibn Muḥammad al-Muʿtaṣim ibn Hārūn al-Rashīd ibn Muḥammad al-Mahdī ibn Abī Jaʿfar al-Manṣūr.

It is also said that al-Muʿtazz’s personal name was Aḥmad, while others maintained that it was al-Zubayr. This latter view is the one adopted by the ḥadith scholar Ibn ʿAsākir, who recorded it in his History (4).

Al-Mustaʿīn—Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Muʿtaṣim—had already deposed himself from the caliphate and sworn allegiance to al-Muʿtazz.

On Friday, the fourth of Muḥarram, the preachers in the congregational mosques (5) of Baghdad invoked blessings for the caliph al-Muʿtazz bi-llāh from their pulpits. Al-Mustaʿīn then moved from al-Ruṣāfa to the palace of al-Ḥasan ibn Sahl, taking with him his household, children, and slave-girls. Saʿīd ibn Rajāʾ, together with a detachment of guards, was placed over them. The cloak, the staff, and the signet-ring were taken from al-Mustaʿīn and dispatched to al-Muʿtazz. Al-Muʿtazz subsequently sent to request two jeweled rings that still remained with him (6)—one called Burj and the other Jabal—and al-Mustaʿīn forwarded them.

Al-Mustaʿīn asked permission to go to Mecca, but it was not granted. He then requested permission for Basra, only to be told, “It is plague-stricken.” He replied, “Abandoning the caliphate is more plague-ridden than that.”