and may the One whom God has now raised up be kept alive and further endowed
with gifts whose lasting continuance can never come to an end.
All his ambitions have been realized, and with them are joined
benefits whose perfection remains inseparably linked to him.
He is al-Muktafī bi-Llāh: in everything that preoccupies him
Allah suffices him with a support that none may assail.

He himself composed poetry, among which are the following verses (1):
Who will help me reveal what I endure,
So that he may understand youthful folly and yearning?
He was ever my servant, yet my love for him
Has made me his slave, held fast in bondage.
Manumission is within my power, yet because of that love
I am unable to set myself free.

The inscription on his signet ring read:
“ʿAlī trusts (2) in his Lord.”

His children were: Muḥammad, Jaʿfar, ʿAbd al-Ṣamad, Mūsā, ʿAbd Allāh, Hārūn, al-Faḍl, ʿĪsā, al-ʿAbbās, and ʿAbd al-Malik (3).

During his reign Antioch was conquered and rescued from the Byzantines. A vast multitude of Muslim captives held there were liberated, and the Muslims seized an exceedingly large amount of booty, as mentioned earlier.

When death drew near, he asked about his brother Abū al-Faḍl Jaʿfar ibn al-Muʿtaḍid. On learning that he had reached maturity, he summoned him on Friday, eleven nights having passed of Dhū al-Qaʿdah of that same year, brought in the judges, and made them witness that he had invested him with the caliphate after himself, bestowing upon him the honorific al-Muqtadir bi-Llāh.

Al-Muktafī bi-Llāh died three days later—may Allah have mercy upon him.

Another report states that he passed away late on Saturday, between noon and the afternoon prayer; yet another says it was after sunset on the eve of Sunday, twelve nights having passed of Dhū al-Qaʿdah. He was buried in the house of Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṭāhir. He was thirty-two—or, according to another account, thirty-three—years old, and his caliphate lasted six years, six months, and nineteen days.

In his will he designated a private charitable donation of six hundred thousand dinars, a sum he had accumulated while still young.

His final illness was scrofula (dāʾ al-khanāzīr) (4). May Allah, exalted is He, have mercy on him.