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Malikshah Resolves to Expel the Caliph from Baghdad, and Dies

عزم ملكشاه على إخراج الخليفة من بغداد فمات

c. 1092 CE · 485 AH

In 485 Malikshah returned to Baghdad bent on harm, sending the caliph word: 'you must leave me Baghdad and go where you will'. 'Grant me a month' — 'not an hour'. The caliph asked the sultan's vizier for ten days — whereupon the sultan fell ill and died, counted a karama for the caliph; it is said he had sat fasting on ashes cursing Malikshah till answered. The sultan's wife Turkan hid the death, had the amirs swear to her five-year-old Mahmud — titled Nasir al-Dunya wa'l-Din — then his brother Barkyaruq rose and was invested as Rukn al-Din 1.

Depth

At a glance

Era
Abbasid Fragmentation
Region
Levant & Iraq
Review
Draft Completeness 2/5 · Help complete it

In time

1080109011001110 c.
The Buyid, Fatimid and Seljuk Era · The Crusades, Ayyubids and Mamluks

Overview

Al-Suyuti relates that Malikshah returned to Baghdad in 485 AH, and sent to the caliph al-Muqtadi that he should leave Baghdad to him and go to whatever land he chose. 2

The respite and the death

The caliph asked for a respite, then ten days through the sultan's vizier. The sultan fell ill and died. This is counted as a mark of honour for the caliph, according to the account, and it is said that the caliph used to fast and curse Malikshah. 2

After his death

His wife Turkan concealed his death and made the amirs swear allegiance to her son Mahmud, who was five years old. Then his brother Barkiyaruq rose against him. 2

Connections

Explore the connections

Had participant
السلطان ملكشاه جلال الدولة بن ألب أرسلان· al-Muqtadi bi-Amr Allah Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn al-Qa'im

People and things also explored

The sakk and the hawala· The killing of Sultan Alp Arslan and the accession of Malikshah· Fall of Damascus to Atsiz· The death of al-Qa'im bi-Amr Allah and the accession of al-Muqtadi· Yusuf ibn Tashfin Given the Title Amir al-Muslimin· al-Muqtadi bi-Amr Allah Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn al-Qa'im· السلطان ملكشاه جلال الدولة بن ألب أرسلان

Sources

  1. Tarikh al-Khulafa — al-Suyuti (Dar al-Minhaj edition) , p. 653
  2. Tarikh al-Khulafa — al-Suyuti (Dar al-Minhaj edition) , p.653
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Malikshah Resolves to Expel the Caliph from Baghdad, and Dies”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/malikshah-baghdad-ultimatum-485/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-22.

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The sakk and the hawala

The sakk, near-kin to the modern cheque: al-Khwarizmi in Mafatih al-Ulum says it gathered the names and number of those entitled and what was owed them, and the caliph or sultan or amir signed at its foot authorising payment of these stipends; its word lives on in the European languages, and Arabic hawala survives as 'awal' in Urdu. Proof of their reach: the boatmen who ferried Sultan Malikshah's army across the Oxus received hawalas from Nizam al-Mulk redeemable from the Seljuk tax-agent at Antioch, so they might grasp the breadth of the sultan's domains.