al-Muhtadi bi-Allah

Abbasid caliph, pledged allegiance in Rajab 255 after al-Mu'tazz was deposed; he was deposed in Rajab 256 and died. According to al-Suyuti, he was tawny-skinned, slender, pious, devout, just, firm in God's cause and a brave man, but he found neither helper nor supporter. He fasted continually from his accession until he was killed, and a woollen shirt and the cloak he wore at night in prayer were found in his chest. He abolished entertainments and banned singing, restrained the powerful from injustice, and kept close watch over the bureaus, never missing his sitting on Mondays and Thursdays. When Hashim ibn al-Qasim fed him bread, salt, vinegar and oil, he said that among the Umayyads there had been Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, so he was jealous on behalf of the Banu Hashim; and when Ja'far ibn Abd al-Wahid mentioned Ahmad ibn Hanbal, he said: 'If it were lawful for me to disown my father, I would have disowned him'. According to al-Mas'udi, he was Muhammad ibn al-Wathiq. When the Turks besieged al-Mu'tazz they sent for him to Madinat al-Salam, and he was brought to Samarra within a day and a night; he refused to sit on the throne or accept the oath until he had seen al-Mu'tazz, and when they met they embraced and sat together on the throne. Al-Mu'tazz released him from his pledge, and the people accepted it; al-Mu'tazz had exiled and imprisoned him. According to al-Mas'udi, he took the path of moderation and piety, drew near to the scholars and raised the standing of the jurists, and said: 'O Banu Hashim, leave me to follow the path of Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz.' He ordered the gold and silver vessels brought out of the treasuries to be smashed and struck into dinars and dirhams, images were erased from the assembly halls, butting rams were slaughtered and captive beasts of prey killed, and brocade hangings were taken down. The caliphs' tables had cost ten thousand dirhams a day, but he set his table and provisions at about one hundred dirhams, and he kept up continual fasting. After his death a woollen shirt and a shackle, which he used to wear to bind himself at night while he bowed and prostrated until morning, were found in his chest. He was killed leaving seventeen sons and six daughters. He had the two secretaries Ahmad ibn Isra'il and Abu Nuh brought out to the public gate; each was given five hundred lashes, and both died.