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Al-Mutawakkil's resolve to reside in Damascus

عزم المتوكل على سكنى دمشق

c. 857 CE · 243 AH

In 243 al-Mutawakkil came to Damascus, admired it, built a palace at Darayya and resolved to reside — Yazid al-Muhallabi versified 'if the imam resolves to depart, forsaking Iraq, I think Syria will gloat; the lovely woman is worn out by divorce' — he changed his mind and returned after two or three months 1.

Depth

At a glance

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

In time

840850860870 c.
The Early Abbasid Caliphate · Abbasid Fragmentation

Overview

In 243 AH the caliph al-Mutawakkil came to Damascus and liked it. A palace was built for him at Darayya and he resolved to live there. 2

The advice

Yazid ibn Muhammad al-Muhallabi recited verses to him warning him against leaving Iraq and against letting Syria gloat over him. He changed his mind, and returned after two or three months. 2

Connections

Explore the connections

Had participant
al-Mutawakkil ala Allah

People and things also explored

al-Mufarraj ibn Sallam's Conquest of Twenty-Four Fortresses· al-Qummi's War on the Buja Lands· Bugha al-Kabir's Pacification of the Armenian March· The Conquest of Barah· Demolition of the tomb of al-Husayn· The Founding of al-Mutawakkiliyya· Christians Bound to Wear the Honey-Coloured Dress· The Byzantine raid on Damietta

Sources

  1. Tarikh al-Khulafa — al-Suyuti (Dar al-Minhaj edition) , p. 541
  2. Tarikh al-Khulafa — al-Suyuti (Dar al-Minhaj edition) , p.541
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Al-Mutawakkil's resolve to reside in Damascus”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/mutawakkil-damascus-residence/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-22.

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al-Mufarraj ibn Sallam's Conquest of Twenty-Four Fortresses

In al-Baladhuri: after Khalafun rose a man called al-Mufarraj — one copy: al-Mufarrikh — ibn Sallam who opened twenty-four fortresses and seized them; he wrote the postmaster in Egypt his news and that he deemed the absentee prayer unlawful for himself and the Muslims with him, asking the imam to contract him over his district and appoint him, to leave the state of usurpers — and he built a congregational mosque. Then his companions mutinied and killed him; Sawran — also read Sudan — succeeded and sent his envoy to al-Mutawakkil asking patent and letter of appointment, but al-Mutawakkil died before the envoy reached him, and al-Muntasir died whose caliphate was six months; al-Musta'in Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Mu'tasim ordered his Maghreb agent Utamish — the caliph's mawla — to contract it for him, but before his envoy could leave Samarra Utamish was killed and Wasif the caliph's mawla took the district and contracted and dispatched it.