al-Muqtafi li-Amr Allah Muhammad ibn al-Mustazhir
Abbasid caliph [530–555], hailed at forty when his nephew was deposed — his laqab from a dream of the Prophet bidding him 'follow my steps'. Stripped by Mas'ud, his famous answer won his estates back; with the sultans broken his word rose — 'the beginning of the Abbasid state's recovery'. Dhahabi: among the noblest caliphs, nothing ran without his rescript. He deeded Egypt to Nur al-Din, renewed the Ka'ba's door, and died Sunday 2 Rabi' I 555.
Reign · Abbasid Caliphate · no. 6 in the chain · 1136–1160 CE
Ruled the caliphate
Events of the reign
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The deposition of the caliph al-Rashid and the bay'a to al-Muqtafi, 530
In 530 conflict broke out between Sultan Mas'ud and caliph al-Rashid bi'llah; armies were mustered, the caliph left for Mosul, and Mas'ud entered Baghdad, seized the palace, and produced al-Mustarshid's letter — whoever leaves Baghdad to fight the Sultan has deposed himself — so the jurists who were asked ruled for deposition, and he was deposed on Monday 16 Dhu al-Qa'da by the hakim's ruling and the fuqaha's fatwa, while his uncle al-Muqtafi was summoned and given the caliphate's bay'a.
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Al-Jawaliqi's ijaza to al-Zamakhshari at Baghdad, 533/1138
In 533/1138 al-Zamakhshari made a further trip to Mecca, passing through Baghdad where he visited the celebrated man of letters Abu Mansur Mawhub ibn al-Jawaliqi and received his ijaza. He had heard hadith in Baghdad on his journeys and debated with its scholars.
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Battle of Ba'rin
Draft card for the siege of Ba'rin in 1137, Zengi's capture of the castle and its Templar garrison; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Battle of Bosra
Draft card for the Battle of Bosra in 1147, the clash of Damascus's forces with the Frankish raid on the Hauran; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Battle of Inab
Draft card for the Battle of Inab in 1149, Nur al-Din Zengi's victory over the Franks in which Raymond of Antioch fell; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Battle of Lake Huleh
Draft card for the Battle of Lake Huleh in 1157, Nur al-Din's defeat by the kingdom of Jerusalem near Banias; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Battle of Mezzeh (1148)
Draft card for Battle of Mezzeh (1148); its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Battle of Teqoa
Draft card for the Battle of Teqoa in 1138, the Crusader skirmish near Bethlehem; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Fall of Saruj (1145)
Draft card for the Fall of Saruj in 1145, its capture from the Franks; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Fall of Turbessel (1151)
Draft card for the Fall of Turbessel in 1151, Nur al-Din's capture of it from the Franks; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Nur al-Din takes Damascus and builds the first Dar al-Hadith for Ibn 'Asakir, 549/1154
When Nur al-Din occupied Damascus in 549/1154 he at once made contact with Ibn 'Asakir, given the standing of the Banu 'Asakir in the city's society and 'Ali's own prestige as hafiz and jurist; in him the sovereign found a valuable ally for his programme of Sunni restoration, built for him the first dar al-hadith — known also as the dar al-Sunna — and encouraged him to complete the great Tarikh, which by 549 already ran to fifty-seven volumes.
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Ibn 'Asakir writes Fadl 'Asqalan and the Arba'in on jihad after the fall of Ascalon, 548/1153
After the Franks took Ascalon in 548/1153, Ibn 'Asakir — an Ash'ari who fought whatever cast a slur on the Sunna — wrote Fadl 'Asqalan exhorting the Muslims to recapture the town, and a collection of forty hadiths, al-Arba'in fi al-ijtihad fi iqamat al-jihad, exalting the virtues of jihad in support of Nur al-Din's religious policy.
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Ibn 'Asakir returns to Damascus and begins public dictation, 533-535/1139-1141
Ibn 'Asakir passed through Baghdad in 533/1139 and reached Damascus two years later. Of his resolve to teach hadith he said: he sought the permission of his senior shaykhs and the notables of the town, and every one answered 'who has a better right to this than you?' — so he began dictating in 533. From the days of Mu'in al-Din Anar onward he never again left his native city, devoting forty years to learning.
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Ibn al-Jawzi begins his career under the caliph al-Muktafi
Ibn al-Jawzi began his scholarly and preaching career in the caliphate of al-Muktafi (530–555/1136–1160), thanks to the patronage of the Hanbali vizier Ibn Hubayra, holding a waʿẓ session every Friday in Ibn Hubayra's own house.
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Mas'ud's seizure of the caliphal property and al-Muqtafi's reply
Mas'ud stripped the caliphal palace — four mares and eight mules left in the stable — then in 531 seized all the caliph's estates and demanded a hundred thousand dinars. Al-Muqtafi's answer: 'What wonder — you know what befell al-Mustarshid's wealth at your hands, what al-Rashid took, and that you seized the furniture, the mint, the estates and the tolls. From what shall we raise it? Nothing remains but to hand you the palace itself — I have sworn to God not to take a grain wrongfully from the Muslims'. The sultan desisted, and in Jumada I the caliph's lands were restored.
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Nur al-Din Lifts the Frankish Siege of Damascus
In 543 the Franks besieged Damascus; Nur al-Din Mahmud ibn Zangi, then lord of Aleppo, reached it with his brother Ghazi, lord of Mosul — the Muslims were victorious and the Franks routed. Nur al-Din pressed on against them, taking what they had seized of Muslim lands.
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The Battle of Safed and the Taking of Gaza, Banias and Shayzar in 552
In 552 Nur al-Din routed the Franks at Safed — a great battle — and took Gaza and Banias from the Franks while Shayzar passed to him from the Banu Munqidh.
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The deposition of al-Rashid billah by a jurists' attestation
On sultan Mas'ud's return, al-Rashid went out to Mosul; the judges, notables and scholars wrote an instrument of testimony — injustice, seizure of wealth, bloodshed, wine — and asked the jurists whether such a one's imamate holds and whether the sultan of the day may depose him. They fatwa'd the deposition lawful; Ibn al-Karkhi, judge of the city, ruled it, and his uncle Muhammad ibn al-Mustazhir was hailed al-Muqtafi on 16 Dhu'l-Qa'da 530. Ibn al-Jawzi cites al-Suli: people say every sixth caliph is deposed.
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Al-Sam'ani's first great hadith journey, 529-538/1135-1143
Al-Sam'ani travelled before and after thirty to Khurasan, Isfahan, Iraq, the Hijaz, al-Sham, Tabaristan and Transoxiana. On this first great journey (529-538/1135-1143) he went via Isfahan and Hamadan to Baghdad and its environs, to Mecca and Medina, to Damascus and Jerusalem — which at his visit in 536/1141 had been in Crusader hands for forty-two years — and north and east to Khwarazm, Samarqand, Bukhara, Balkh and Herat.
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Second Siege of Edessa
Draft card for the Second Siege of Edessa in 1146, Zangi's recovery of the city after Joscelin's brief restoration; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Siege of Aleppo (1138)
Draft card for the Siege of Aleppo in 1138, the joint Byzantine–Crusader campaign against Zengi; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Siege of Baalbek (1139)
Draft card for Siege of Baalbek (1139); its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Siege of Baghdad
Draft card for the Siege of Baghdad in 1136, Mas'ud the Seljuk's entry into the Abbasid capital; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Siege of Baghdad
Draft card for the Siege of Baghdad in 1157, the Seljuk assault on the Abbasid capital; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Siege of Damascus (1148)
Draft card for the Siege of Damascus in 1148, the Second Crusade's failed assault on the city; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Siege of Edessa
Draft card for the fall of Edessa in 1144, Imad al-Din Zengi's recovery of the city from the Franks — the event that summoned the Second Crusade; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Siege of Shaizar
Draft card for the Siege of Shaizar in 1138, John II's Byzantine campaign against the Munqidhite castle above the Orontes; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Siege of Shaizar (1157)
Draft card for the Siege of Shaizar in 1157, Nur al-Din's seizure of the fortress after the earthquake; its sources are not yet checked on the page.