أحمد بن بويه معز الدولة

Ahmad ibn Buyah al-Daylami, whose title was Mu'izz al-Dawla. He entered Baghdad in 334 AH, the first of the Daylam to rule Iraq. He deposed the caliph al-Mustakfi and set up al-Muti', and died in 356 AH. ^{1 2}

Ibn al-Athir says that he entered Baghdad on the eleventh of Jumada al-Ula 334 AH, and swore allegiance to al-Mustakfi and swore to him. The caliph invested him and gave him the title Mu'izz al-Dawla, and gave his two brothers the titles Imad al-Dawla (Ali) and Rukn al-Dawla (al-Hasan). Their titles were struck on the dinars and dirhams. Five thousand dirhams a day were fixed for al-Mustakfi's keep. ²

He also relates that his troops lodged in people's houses, and great hardship befell the people, and that became a custom afterwards. ²

Al-Suyuti relates that he restricted the caliph, then deposed al-Mustakfi, blinded him, and brought out al-Muti' and they swore allegiance to him. ¹

Afterwards a dispute arose between him and Nasir al-Dawla ibn Hamdan. He went out to fight him with al-Muti', then returned with al-Muti' with him. They renewed their oaths between them in 335 AH, and he returned al-Muti' to the house of the caliphate. ³

Al-Mas'udi says that al-Fadl ibn al-Muqtadir, who was al-Muti', took refuge with him in disguise to escape the pursuit of al-Mustakfi, and he treated him well and did not reveal him. ⁴

Ibn al-Athir says that he introduced the office of couriers: the courier of the Sunna and the courier of the Shi'a, who travelled forty farsakhs a day, and people bet on them. ⁵

Ibn al-Jawzi says that he needed them to link him with his brother Rukn al-Dawla in al-Rayy. ⁶

In Dhu al-Hijja 343 AH he was afflicted with insomnia, and Baghdad was agitated. He rode out while ill so the people would see him, and they grew calm. ⁷

He died in 356 AH of dysentery, according to Ibn al-Athir, and was buried at the Gate of Straw in the cemetery of Quraysh, and he bequeathed to his son Bakhtiyar. His rule lasted twenty-one years according to him. ⁵

According to Ibn al-Jawzi his rule was sixteen years, and he died at Shiraz at the age of fifty-seven. The two sources differ on the length of his rule and the place of his death, and no preference is made here. ⁶