The caliph was likewise astonished and said, “It is something that has left our possession(1) and will never return to us; give it in charity to the poor of his neighborhood.” May Allah have mercy on him.

He left three children: two full brothers(2)—the Commander of the Faithful al-Mustaʿṣim Billāh, who assumed the caliphate after him(3), Abū Aḥmad ʿAbdullāh, and the prince Abū al-Qāsim ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz—and a sister by another mother, a noble lady; may Allah preserve her veil.

Many poets lamented him in abundant verse, a sizable selection of which Ibn al-Sāʿī has recorded. He appointed no one to the vizierate; instead, he maintained Abū al-Ḥasan Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Qummī(4) as acting vizier, after whom came Naṣīr(5) al-Dīn Abū al-Azhar Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Nāqid, formerly tutor in the caliphal palace. Allah, exalted is He, knows best what is correct.

[The Caliphate of al-Mustaʿṣim Billāh]

He was the Commander of the Faithful and the last ʿAbbāsid caliph in Baghdad—the martyr-caliph slain by the Tatars at the order of Hülegü(6) ibn Tolui, the Tatar ruler, son of Genghis Khan—may Allah curse them(7)—in 656 AH, as will be detailed, Allah willing. He is the Commander of the Faithful al-Mustaʿṣim Billāh, Abū Aḥmad ʿAbdullāh, son of the Commander of the Faithful al-Mustanṣir Billāh, Abū Jaʿfar Manṣūr; son of the Commander of the Faithful al-Ẓāhir Billāh, Abū Naṣr Muḥammad; son of the Commander of the Faithful al-Nāṣir li-Dīnillāh, Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad; son of the Commander of the Faithful al-Muṣṭaḍīʾ bi-Amrillāh, Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥasan; son of the Commander of the Faithful al-Mustanjid Billāh, Abū al-Muẓaffar Yūsuf; son of the Commander of the Faithful, the caliph al-Muqtafī li-Amrillāh, Abū ʿAbdullāh Muḥammad; son of the Commander of the Faithful, the caliph al-Mustaẓhir Billāh, Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad; son of the caliph al-Muqtaḍī bi-Amrillāh, Abū al-Qāsim ʿAbdullāh—the remainder of his lineage back to al-ʿAbbās is given in the biography of his grandfather al-Nāṣir. All those we have just named held the caliphate consecutively, one after another; before al-Mustaʿṣim no one had ever had eight successive forefathers who were caliphs(8) without any interruption. He himself was the ninth, may Allah, by His grace, have mercy upon him.

When his father died at dawn on Friday, the 10th of Jumādā al-Ākhira in 640 AH, he was summoned from the Tāj