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The death of al-Qadir and the accession of al-Qa'im bi-amr Allah, 422

وفاة القادر وبيعة القائم بأمر الله ٤٢٢

c. November 1031 CE · 11 Dhu al-Hijja 422 AH

Baghdad

The caliph al-Qadir bi'llah died on the night of Monday 11 Dhu'l-Hijja 422, aged eighty-six years, ten months and twenty-one days, having reigned forty-one years and three months, a span no caliph before him had reached. The doors were shut; then al-Qa'im bi-amr Allah came out at the time of 'asr, led the people in the maghrib prayer, prayed over his father with four takbirs, and sat in the Dar al-Shajara in a shirt and mantle. The people gave him bay'a, first among them al-Sharif al-Murtada, and on the next day Abu Ahmad al-Hasan ibn Isa ibn al-Muqtadir came and gave bay'a too. The Turks clamoured over the bay'a money; when a Hashimite killed a Turk, a signed decree of the caliph was issued on the matter, and it was settled that the bay'a be levied at three million dinars. Among his well-known displays of tact, he put up a caravanserai, a garden and a heap of goods for sale to meet it. He gave titles to the viziers and chamberlains and arranged the offices of state 1.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Buyid, Fatimid and Seljuk Era
Region
Levant & Iraq
Review
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In time

102010301040 c.
The Buyid, Fatimid and Seljuk Era

In space

Baghdad

Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph

Family, marriage and kinship

Summary

On the night of Monday, 11 Dhu al-Hijja 422 AH, the caliph al-Qadir billah died at the age of eighty-six, after a caliphate of forty-one years, a length no caliph before him had reached. His son al-Qa'im bi-amr Allah came out at the time of the afternoon prayer, led the people in the sunset prayer, then prayed the funeral prayer over his father, and sat at Dar al-Shajara, where the people gave him the oath of allegiance. 2

The first oath of allegiance

The first to give the oath was al-Sharif al-Murtada, naqib of the Talibids (the Alid notables). The next day Abu al-Hasan ibn Isa ibn al-Muqtadir came and gave the oath. The form of the pledge continued as acceptance of his imamate and commitment to the conditions of obeying him. 3

Oath money and the caliph's conduct

The guards rioted over the oath money, until a Hashimi was killed by a Turk. It was agreed that three million dinars would be paid to them. Ibn al-Jawzi relates that al-Qa'im offered a caravanserai, an orchard and a heap of goods for sale to pay it, one of the scenes of asceticism that marked his conduct. 4

Connections

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Occurred at
Baghdad
Had participant
al-Qadir bi-llah Ahmad ibn Ishaq ibn al-Muqtadir· al-Qa'im bi-Amr Allah Abd Allah ibn al-Qadir· al-Sharif al-Murtada

People and things also explored

The public declaration of al-Qa'im bi-Amr Allah as heir, 421· The Baghdad Attestation on Fatimid Lineage· The Baratha Mosque Affair in 420· Abu al-Qasim ibn al-Qadir· The reading of the Qadiri Creed in the Dar al-Khilafa· The diwan manifesto impugning the Ubaydid genealogy· The battle of al-Basasiri and the sermon for the Ubaydi al-Mustansir in Baghdad· Riot at the funeral of Bint Abi Nuh and the plunder of the Dar al-Rum church

Sources

  1. al-Muntazam fi Tarikh al-Muluk wa'l-Umam — Ibn al-Jawzi , j.8 p.399-403
  2. al-Muntazam fi Tarikh al-Muluk wa'l-Umam — Ibn al-Jawzi , j.8 p.399-400
  3. al-Muntazam fi Tarikh al-Muluk wa'l-Umam — Ibn al-Jawzi , j.8 p.400
  4. al-Muntazam fi Tarikh al-Muluk wa'l-Umam — Ibn al-Jawzi , j.8 p.402-403
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “The death of al-Qadir and the accession of al-Qa'im bi-amr Allah, 422”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/al-qaim-accession-422/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-22.

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The public declaration of al-Qa'im bi-Amr Allah as heir, 421

When rumours spread about the illness of the caliph al-Qadir, he convened a general assembly on Sunday 18 Jumada I 421. The Turkish administrator Abu al-Ghana'im spoke in praise of the choice of Prince Abu Ja'far, and al-Qadir said, 'If God has permitted it, then we too permit it'; Abu Ja'far sat on the throne. On Friday, with seven days of the month left, he was proclaimed with the title 'al-Qa'im bi-Amr Allah, heir to the Muslims', and it was struck on the coinage. On the 12th of Jumada I a letter from Jalal al-Dawla arrived asking permission to carry out the designation of the heir; it was read out to the people on Tuesday in the Hall of Audience, with a detailed preamble, followed by the caliph's endorsement.