The division of the realm between al-Mufawwid and al-Muwaffaq

Al-Muʿtamid ʿala Allah sat in the public audience hall (dar al-ʿamma) on the twelfth of Shawwal in the year 261 AH and divided the realm between his son Jaʿfar and his brother Abu Ahmad. He made Jaʿfar heir, gave him the title al-Mufawwad ila Allah, and placed him over the West (al-Maghrib), joined with Musa ibn Bugha, who was given Ifriqiya, Egypt, Syria, al-Jazira, Mosul, Armenia and the road to Khurasan. He made Abu Ahmad heir after him, in third place, and placed him over the East, joined with Surur al-Balkhi, who was given Baghdad, al-Sawad, Kufa, the roads to Mecca and Medina, Yemen, Basra, Karkh of Dijla, Ahwaz, Isfahan, Fars, al-Karaj, al-Rayy, Zanjan, Qazvin, Khurasan, Tabaristan, Jurjan, Sistan and Sind. He gave each of them two banners, one black and one white. ¹.

He stipulated that if anything happened to the caliph or to Jaʿfar, the matter would pass only to Abu Ahmad and then to Jaʿfar. The oath of allegiance was taken from the people on this basis, orders were given for the document (sudq al-kitab) to be drawn up accordingly, and a copy was sent with al-Hasan ibn al-Hasan ibn Abi al-Shawarib to be hung in the Kaaba. ¹ This division was the basis on which Abu Ahmad, al-Muwaffaq, held real power during the caliphate of his brother al-Muʿtamid, until his son Jaʿfar was later removed from the succession.