al-Ta'i' li-Llah Abd al-Karim ibn al-Muti'
Abbasid caliph [363–381], al-Mu'ti's son, hailed when his father suffered paralysis at Subuktakin's counsel — the deed done Wednesday 13 Dhu'l-Qa'da 363; al-Dhahabi says father and son were alike helpless among the Buyids.
Reign · Abbasid Caliphate · no. 36 in the chain · 974–991 CE
Ruled the caliphate
Events of the reign
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Al-Ta'i' Delegates Authority to Adud al-Dawla
In 369 al-Ta'i' sat on the throne ringed by a hundred swordsmen, Uthman's mushaf before him, the Burda on his shoulder, the qadib in his hand, the Prophet's sword at his side; the curtain Adud al-Dawla sent hung so no soldier's eye touched the caliph first. Adud entered and kissed the ground — his captain Ziyad recoiled: 'what is this, king? is this God?' — 'this is God's caliph on earth'. Seven times he kissed the ground, then the caliph's foot, and sat on a chair only under oath. Al-Ta'i' said: 'I have resolved to delegate to you what God entrusted to me of the subjects' affairs in earth's east and west, save my household and retinue'. Before this he had received the investiture robes, a jewelled crown, and two standards — silvered as amirs' and gilded as heirs-apparent's, the latter unprecedented — and in 368 the drums at his gate and the khutba from the court minbars, which Ibn al-Jawzi notes had never been granted even to heirs.
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Adud al-Dawla Seizes the Realm of the Banu Hamdan
In Dhu'l-Qa'da 367 Adud al-Dawla took Mosul and the Hamdanid Jazira; Abu Taghlib expected the usual raid-and-settle, but Adud came stocked with provisions and local know-how, settled in and hunted him — 'these lands are dearer to me than Iraq'.
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The dragon-wind over Baghdad, 378
In Sha'ban 378 violent gales multiplied over Baghdad; on the Thursday afternoon with five days left in the month came a wind likened to a dragon — it swept the Tigris bare until its bed showed, demolished a part of the congregational mosque, killed people, sank great ships loaded with goods and carried a boat with its beasts inland to the land of Jukha where it was seen days later.
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Severe Famine in Baghdad in 373
Severe drought-famine struck Baghdad in 373: a ghurara of grain reached four hundred dirhams.
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Baha' al-Dawla invested with the emirate, 379
On Sharaf al-Dawla's death in Jumada I 379 the army demanded the accession bounty from his son Abu Nasr Ahmad; after exchanges and mutual oaths of sincere intent, al-Ta'i' came by boat to Dar al-Mamlaka at the Karkh to condole, and on Saturday 10 Jumada II the young emir rode to the caliph's presence, received the sultanic robes and two standards and the laqabs Baha' al-Dawla wa-Diya' al-Milla, the whole army marching before him to Bab al-Shammasiyya, while Abu Mansur Ibn Salihan was confirmed as wazir.
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Al-Baqillani carries Adud al-Dawla's reply to the Byzantine court, 369/980
In 369/980 an embassy from Constantinople reached Baghdad seeking the surrender of the rebel commander Bardas Skleros, who had taken refuge in Diyar Bakr. Adud al-Dawla sent his reply — a refusal — to the Byzantine court 'by the hand of the qadi Abu Bakr al-Bakillani'; al-Baqillani's own biographical entry likewise records a visit to the Byzantine court.
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Birth of Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Muhammad al-Mawardi at Basra, 364/974
Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Habib al-Mawardi al-Basri al-Shafi'i was born at Basra in 364/974; his father was a maker and seller of rose-water, from which his nisba derives. He died aged eighty-six in Rabi' I 450.
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War of the brothers: Sharaf al-Dawla overthrows Samsam al-Dawla
In 376 the Buyid house broke: the army deserted Samsam al-Dawla for his brother Sharaf al-Dawla; Samsam submitted, kissed the ground, was jailed — then nineteen thousand Daylamites met three thousand Turks, the Daylamites were routed losing three thousand, and the Turks rode Sharaf into Baghdad where al-Ta'i' received him; Samsam's news vanished — he was blinded.
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Al-Hakim al-Nisaburi spends four months with al-Daraqutni in Baghdad, 367/977
Al-Hakim Abu 'Abdallah said: al-Daraqutni became the unique one of his age in memory, understanding and scrupulousness, an imam among the readers and grammarians. In the year 367 I stayed in Baghdad four months and we met much, night and day; I found him above what had been described to me, and I asked him about the 'ilal and the shaykhs. His works are too many to list, and I bear witness that he left no like of himself upon the face of the earth.
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Death of Adud al-Dawla ibn Buwayh
In Shawwal 372 Adud al-Dawla b. Rukn al-Dawla died of epilepsy at forty-seven, repeating 'my wealth avails me not, my sultanate has perished'; buried at Dar al-Mamlaka then moved to Ali's mashhad. The first Buyid hailed as shahinshah, builder of the Kufa shrine, the Medina wall, the Mecca road and Baghdad's Maristan al-Adudi.
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The great Karkh fire, 371
In Rabi' I 371 a great fire swept the Karkh from Darb al-Qaratis to the Bazazin, leaping through 1,900 houses and lasting a week.
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The killing of Abu Taghlib ibn Hamdan
In 369 Abu Taghlib, the last Hamdanid, was cornered near Ramla — shut out of Damascus by Qassam, courted then abandoned over Egypt's summons, deserted by Uqayl when Daghful's host massed; captured, he was killed by Daghful the Jarrahid lest al-Aziz adopt him, and his head went to Egypt.
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The killing of Bakhtiyar ibn Mu'izz al-Dawla
In 367 Bakhtiyar broke his oath not to march on Abu Taghlib's lands, handed his own cousin Hamdan over for prison, and joined the Hamdanid at Qasr al-Hissa by Takrit with twenty thousand men; on 18 Shawwal Adud al-Dawla routed them, refused him audience and had him killed — aged thirty-one after eleven years' rule.
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The Mosul earthquake, 376
In Rajab 376 word reached Baghdad of an earthquake at Mosul that demolished many houses and killed a great number of people.
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al-Muqaddasi's journey to Aleppo, c. 354–364/965–975
His own work shows al-Muqaddasi travelled to Aleppo, probably between 354 and 364 AH (965–975 CE).
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The deposition of al-Muti' and the bay'a to al-Ta'i'
In 363 al-Muti' was struck by paralysis and his tongue grew heavy; Izz al-Dawla's chamberlain Subuktakin proposed he depose himself for his son al-Ta'i' — done on Wednesday 13 Dhu'l-Qa'da after twenty-nine years and months, recorded with qadi Ibn Umm Shayban, and he was called 'al-Shaykh al-Fadil' thereafter. Ibn Shahin says he abdicated unforced; he went to Wasit and died Muharram 364. Al-Dhahabi: al-Muti' and his son were helpless among the Buyids, the caliphs' weakness lasting till al-Muqtafi.
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Al-Ta'i' deposed, al-Qadir acclaimed, 381
In Ramadan 381 Baha' al-Dawla's men seized the caliph al-Ta'i' in his palace, wrapped him in a cloak and carried him to the treasury at Dar al-Mamlaka; the deed of self-deposition ceding the rule to al-Qadir was taken to him and he signed it, the khutba was held in al-Qadir's name, and the whole contents of the caliphal palace — vessels, robes, arms, servants and stores — were carried off while Baha' al-Dawla toured it hall by hall. Al-Qadir had himself been a fugitive in the Batiha with Muhdhib al-Dawla for nearly two years under al-Ta'i'.
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Al-Qadir's book on the fundamentals (al-usul)
Al-Khatib: al-Qadir was marked by piety, night-prayer, abundant alms and good conduct; he studied fiqh under the Shafi'i master Abu Bishr al-Harawi and authored a book of usul containing the Companions' virtues and the takfir of the Mu'tazila and the Quran-creators — read every Friday in the ahl al-hadith circle at al-Mahdi's mosque before the people.
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The Qarmatians enter Kufa, 375
In Rabi' I 375 the Qarmatian army struck Kufa, routed its amir al-Ghassawi ibn al-Sawda' who fled to Baghdad, and entered the city; on Friday the 'Alid banner was raised and the people called to obey it, but three days later the townsmen were ordered out toward Suf Rabi'a and a pitched fight between 'Alids and Qarmatians spilled blood.
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The two Tigris bridges fall at Baghdad, 370
In 370 the Tigris rose beyond measure together with the Euphrates; the Saraya bridges fell — the new one in mid-Dhu'l-Qa'da and the old one on a Wednesday after it — then both were rebuilt at great expense and solid construction.
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Sharaf al-Dawla lifts unjust levies from Iraq
In 377 Sharaf al-Dawla lifted many unjust levies from Iraq — among them returning all of al-Sharif Abu al-Hasan Muhammad b. Umar's estates yielding two and a half million dirhams a year — while Baghdad prices ran beyond description.
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Deposition of al-Ta'i' and Accession of al-Qadir
In 381 al-Ta'i' was seized — for jailing one of Baha' al-Dawla's intimates: the Daylamites dragged him from his throne, wrapped him in a cloak and bore him off while the city shook; they wrote on him his self-deposition for al-Qadir, witnessed by the grandees on 19 Sha'ban. He lived honoured in al-Qadir's house — once complaining when brought a half-burnt candle — till he died on Fitr night 393, al-Qadir praying over him and al-Sharif al-Radi elegising him; he was fiercely set against the Alids, and awe fell so low in his days the poets satirised him.