The Caliphate of al-Mustakfī billāh, Abū al-Qāsim ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Muktafī ibn al-Muʿtaḍid

When Tūzūn returned to Baghdad, having deposed al-Muttaqī li-llāh and blinded him, he summoned ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Muktafī, pledged allegiance to him for the caliphate, and conferred upon him the honorific al-Mustakfī billāh. This took place in the last ten days of Ṣafar of that same year. Tūzūn then sat in his presence, and al-Mustakfī vested him with a splendid robe of honor.

Al-Mustakfī was handsome, of medium stature, well-built and comely of face, fair-skinned with a rosy hue, dark-eyed, aquiline-nosed, and with light whiskers. He was forty-one years old on the day the oath of allegiance was sworn to him.

Al-Muttaqī was brought before him; he too pledged allegiance, whereupon al-Mustakfī took from him the mantle and the staff. He appointed Abū al-Faraj Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Sāmarī as vizier, yet no real authority rested with him, for the reins of power were in the hands of Ibn Shīrzād. Al-Muttaqī was then confined in prison.

Al-Mustakfī sought Abū al-Qāsim al-Faḍl ibn al-Muqtadir—who would later become caliph with the title al-Muṭīʿ li-llāh (1)—but the man went into hiding and never appeared throughout al-Mustakfī’s reign. The caliph therefore ordered that his house on the bank of the Tigris be demolished.

[The Death of the Fāṭimid al-Qāʾim and the Succession of His Son al-Manṣūr]

In Ramaḍān of this year—though the sounder view places it in Shawwāl of the following year (2)—the Fāṭimid al-Qāʾim bi-amri-llāh, Abū al-Qāsim ibn al-Mahdī, died. He had already designated his son al-Manṣūr Ismāʿīl as successor, so he concealed his father’s death for a time (3) until he had firmly consolidated his authority, and only then announced it.

During this same year Abū Yazīd the Khārijite fought against them, seized several major cities, and, though defeated repeatedly, would rise again, gather men, and attack them with whatever forces he could muster. Al-Manṣūr therefore resolved to confront Abū Yazīd in person, rode out with the armies, and a series of battles ensued whose details are too lengthy to recount; Ibn al-Athīr has recorded them fully in his al-Kāmil (4).

At times the army of al-Manṣūr broke and fled until only twenty men remained with him. He then fought in person with great valor, routed Abū Yazīd after nearly being killed himself, and stood his ground with remarkable steadfastness. His stature grew in the people’s eyes, his rank and awe increased, and he recovered the territories of al-Qayrawān from Abū Yazīd. Al-Manṣūr continued the struggle until he captured and killed him. When Abū Yazīd’s head was brought, he prostrated in gratitude to Allah—exalted is He.

Abū Yazīd was hideous in appearance: lame, short, a harsh Khārijite who regarded the Muslim community as unbelievers. May Allah disgrace him in this world and the next.