Al-Muti

al-Mutīʿ li-ʾllāh المطيع لله
Khalīfah Amir al-Mu'minin
Copper fals minted in the name of al-Muti and the Samanid ruler Mansur I ibn Nuh, Bukhara, 964/5 CE
23rd Caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad
Reign	28 January 946 – 4 August 974
Predecessor	Al-Mustakfi
Successor	At-Ta'i
Born	913/4 Baghdad
Died	September/October 974 (aged 60) Dayr al-Aqul
Issue	Al-Ta'i
Dynasty	Abbasid
Father	Al-Muqtadir
Mother	Mash'ala
Religion	Sunni Islam

Abū ʾl-Qāsim al-Faḍl ibn al-Muqtadir (913/14 – September/October 974), better known by his regnal name of al-Mutīʿ li-ʾllāh (Arabic: المطيع لله‎, lit. 'Obedient to God'^[1]), was the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad from 946 to 974, under the tutelage of the Buyid dynasty. His reign represented the nadir of the Abbasid caliphate, with the secular power of the caliphs reduced to insignificance and their remaining prestige as leaders of the Muslim world in constant decline, challenged by the ascendant Shi'a regimes of the time.

Biography

Early life

The future al-Muti was born in 913/4 as al-Fadl, a son of Caliph al-Muqtadir (r. 908–932) and a Slavic concubine, Mash'ala.^[2][3] He was the brother of caliphs al-Radi (r. 934–940) and al-Muttaqi (r. 940–944).^[2]

Harbouring designs on the throne, he was bitterly opposed to his uncle, al-Mustakfi (r. 944–946). The latter tried to capoture him, but al-Fadl eluded his agents and went into hiding; the caliph had to satisfy himself with demolishing his house.^[1] On the news of this, the veteran vizier, Ali ibn Isa, is said to have remarked that "This day he [al-Fadl] ha sbeen acknowledged heir to the throne".^[1] When the Daylamite Buyids under Mu'izz al-Dawla (r. 945–967) seized Baghdad in December 945, al-Fadl emerged from hiding and urged Mu'izz al-Dawla to depose al-Mustakfi, which was done in January or March 946.^[2]

Caliphate

The Buyids and their followers were Shi'a sympathizers, and Mu'izz al-Dawla toyed with the idea of deposing the Abbasids outright and installing an Alid on the throne of Baghdad, or recognizing the Isma'ili Fatimid caliphs. He was dissuaded by his secretary, Abu Ja'far al-Saymari, who pointed out that in a clash between himself and a Shi'a caliph, the Daylamite soldiery were likely to side with the latter. Instead, Mu'izz al-Dawla raised al-Fadl to the caliphate, with the regnal name of al-Mutīʿ li-ʾllāh ("Obedient to God").^[1]

Although of a sickly disposition, under Buyid tutelage al-Muti reigned as caliph for over 28 years, in stark contrast to his short-lived predecessors.^[2][4] He was a weak figure, for all intents and purposes a puppet ruler of the Buyids, first Mu'izz al-Dawla, and then his son, Izz al-Dawla (r. 967–978). In theory, the Buyids and all their officials acted in the name of the Abbasid caliph. In practice, he was deprived of any meaningful authority, even over the choice of the officials of his household. In exchange for being allowed to lead a comfortable and secure life in the vast caliphal palaces, with daily salary of 2,000 dirhams, al-Muti provided legitimacy to the upstart Buyid regime in the eyes of the Muslim world.^[2][5] A grandson of al-Muktafi (r. 902–908) rebelled in Armenia in 960 and claimed the caliphate as al-Mustajir Billah before being defeated,^[4] while in 968, the rival candidacy of Muhammad, a son of al-Mustakfi, gathered considerable support in Baghdad, as well as by the Ikhshidid court in Egypt.^[4]

The position of the Abbasid caliphs declined during his tenure: until 955, the Samanids of Khurasan refused to acknowledge his caliphate, while in the west, the rival Isma'ili Shi'a Fatimid Caliphate was growing more and more powerful,^[2] conquering Egypt in 969 and beginning its expansion into the Levant.^[6] Al-Muti joined with the Buyids, Hamdanids, and even the Qarmatians, in a coalition that managed to stop the Fatimid expansion into the Levant until 973/4.^[3] In the process, the Qarmatians recognized al-Muti in the khuṭba.^[3] Even in Baghdad, the pro-Shi'a sympathies of the Buyids meant that Shi'a influence was growing, and many Shi'a practices were introduced in the city, while Sunni and Shi'a partisans clashed in the streets.^[2]

Another source of danger was the Byzantine advance against the Hamdanids in Upper Mesopotamia and northern Syria. Especially after the sack of Nisibis, Amida, and Edessa in 972, Muslim refugees from these cities flooded to Baghdad, and clamoured for the caliph's protection. Bereft of any military or financial resources, al-Muti was powerless to help them, and his prestige suffered accordingly.^[3] Izz al-Dawla nevertheless managed to extract 400,000 dirhams from the caliph to be used to employ soldiers against the Byzantines.^[3]

As a result of his lack of real power, al-Muti himself barely figures in the chronicles of his reign, and medieval historians generally considered his reign as the lowest ebb of the Abbasid Caliphate.^[2]

In July 974, the Turkic general Sabuktakin managed to seize Baghdad from Izz al-Dawla, and seemed on the verge of overthrowing Buyid control over Iraq altogether; until reinforcements from the other Buyid rulers defeated the Turks in January 975.^[7] During Sabuktakin's rule in the city, al-Muti was incapacitated by a stroke in August, and was forced to abdicate and was replaced by his son Abd al-Karim, as al-Ta'i (r. 974–991).^[2][8] He died shortly after, in September/October 974, at Dayr al-Aqul.^[2]

References

Sources

• Bowen, Harold (1928). The Life and Times of ʿAlí Ibn ʿÍsà: The Good Vizier. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. OCLC 386849.
• Busse, Heribert (2004) [1969]. Chalif und Grosskönig - Die Buyiden im Irak (945-1055) [Caliph and Great King - The Buyids in Iraq (945-1055)] (in German). Würzburg: Ergon Verlag. ISBN 3-89913-005-7.
• Donohue, John J. (2003). The Buwayhid Dynasty in Iraq 334 H./945 to 403 H./1012: Shaping Institutions for the Future. Leiden and Boston: Brill. ISBN 90-04-12860-3.
• Güner, Ahmet (2006). "Mutî'-Lillâh". TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, Vol. 31 (Muhammedi̇yye – Münâzara) (in Turkish). Istanbul: Turkiye Diyanet Foundation, Centre for Islamic Studies. pp. 401–402. ISBN 9789753894586.
• Kennedy, Hugh (2004). The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates: The Islamic Near East from the 6th to the 11th Century (Second ed.). Harlow: Longman. ISBN 978-0-582-40525-7.
• Zetterstéen, K. V. & Bosworth, C. E. (1993). "al-Muṭīʿ Li 'llāh". In Bosworth, C. E.; van Donzel, E.; Heinrichs, W. P. & Pellat, Ch. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, New Edition, Volume VII: Mif–Naz. Leiden: E. J. Brill. p. 799. ISBN 978-90-04-09419-2.