The deposition and death of al-Muhtadi

خلع المهتدى ثم موته

256 AH

In the year 256 al-Muhtadi was deposed in Rajab, after the people of al-Karkh and the quarters stirred demanding their stipends, and he died in the same month ¹. Musa ibn Bugha and Muflih entered Samarra after his death ². According to al-Suyuti, Musa ibn Bugha came from al-Rayy to kill Salih ibn Wasif in revenge for the blood of al-Mu'tazz. He fell upon al-Muhtadi while he sat in the Dar al-Adl; they set him on a weak horse and plundered the palace, then brought him back after he swore not to side with Salih. Musa proclaimed that whoever brought Salih would receive ten thousand dinars; one of the slaves found Salih asleep in a corridor, and his head was cut off and paraded. Then Musa and Bakbak set out for al-Sinn in pursuit of Musawir. Al-Muhtadi wrote to Bakbak ordering him to kill Musa and Muflih; Bakbak showed Musa the letter, and they agreed to kill him. The Maghariba, the Farghanis and the Ushrusaniyya fought for al-Muhtadi, and four thousand Turks were killed in one day. The fighting went on until his army was routed and he was seized; they squeezed his testicles, and he died in Rajab of the year 256. His caliphate lasted a year less fifteen days. The common folk had risen and written notes that they left in the mosques: 'Pray to God for your just and pleasing caliph, the equal of Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz' ³. According to al-Mas'udi, Bayakbal confronted al-Muhtadi on the bridge of Samarra and a great battle took place in which Bayakbal was routed; then his ambush came out, among them the Turk Yarjuj, and al-Muhtadi turned and cried out to the common people in the markets for help, but no one came to his aid. He went into hiding at the house of Ibn Ja'una, and they attacked him and carried him to the house of Yarjuj. They submitted to him until Sulayman ibn Wahb the secretary stood among them and said: 'If he gives you his tongue, his intention toward you is something other than this'; and they brought daggers. The first to wound him was a cousin of Bayakbal, who cut into his jugular, and he put his mouth to the wound, sucking the blood until he was sated, while drunk. They disagreed about how to kill him: some said with daggers, some that his genitals were squeezed, some that he was tied between two boards with ropes, some that he was strangled, and some that he was smothered under rugs and cushions. This happened on Tuesday, fourteen nights before the end of Rajab of the year 255, and they went around with him lamenting in remorse for what they had come to realise of his piety ⁴.