After him, his son Aḥmad ibn Ismāʿīl assumed authority, whereupon the caliph al-Muktafī bi-Llāh sent him the official writ of appointment and honorific robe.
One night, while people were gathered in the company of Ismāʿīl ibn Aḥmad, the subject of boasting about ancestry arose. He said, “A person ought to be ʿiṣāmī, not ʿiẓāmī,” meaning that one should take pride in himself, not in his lineage, in his own toil and exertion, not in his father and grandfather.
As someone versified:
Through my own earnest striving have I risen, not through my forefathers.
Another said:
Sufficient for my pride—and my distinguishing trait (1)—is my refinement; *
I am neither of Hāshim nor of the (pure-blooded) Arabs.*
And yet another declared:
The true youth is he who says, “Here I am,”
Not he who says, “My father was.”
In Dhū al-Qaʿdah of that same year came the death of the caliph al-Muktafī bi-Llāh, Abū Muḥammad ʿAlī ibn al-Muʿtaḍiḍ. The following is his biography and the account of his passing (2).
He is [the caliph, Commander of the Faithful, al-Muktafī bi-Llāh] (3), Abū Muḥammad ʿAlī, son of the Commander of the Faithful al-Muʿtaḍiḍ bi-Llāh Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad, son of the prince Abū Aḥmad al-Muwaffaq, son of al-Mutawakkil, son of al-Muʿtaṣim, son of Hārūn al-Rashīd, son of al-Mahdī, son of Manṣūr (may Allah be pleased with them).
We have already noted (4) that, apart from ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (may Allah be pleased with him), no other caliph bore the name ʿAlī except him; and that among the caliphs only al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī, Mūsā al-Hādī, he himself, and al-Mustadīʾ bi-Amrillāh were known by the kunya Abū Muḥammad.
He was born in Rajab 264 AH, and during his father’s lifetime he received the oath of allegiance for the caliphate on Friday, eleven days remaining of Rabīʿ al-Ākhir 289 AH, when he was about twenty-five years old. He was of medium stature, comely, fair-complexioned, with fine hair and a full, wide beard.
When his father al-Muʿtaḍiḍ died and he took up the office of the caliphate, a poet entered his presence and recited (5):
The gravest of losses is for an imām to die,
And the loftiest of gifts is for an imām to rise.
May the clouds give drink to the one who has passed away,
And may unending greetings and peace be his prize.