al-Musta'in bi'llah

المستعين بالله

Abbasid caliph. Al-Tabari reports that Ibn Tahir resolved to depose him in 251 ¹; he was then deposed and killed in 252 ^{2 3}. According to al-Suyuti he was Ahmad ibn al-Mu'tasim, brother of al-Mutawakkil, whose mother was Mukhariq. When al-Muntasir died the commanders gathered and said, 'If you make any of al-Mutawakkil's sons caliph, not one of us will be left', so they pledged allegiance to Ahmad, who was twenty-eight. In 251, when Wasif and Bugha Baghr the Turk were killed, the Turks turned against him; he was called 'a caliph in a cage, who says what the two of them tell him, as the parrot does'. Afraid, he went down to Baghdad. They brought out al-Mu'tazz, pledged allegiance to him, and deposed him. Al-Mu'tazz sent an army against him, and the people of Baghdad prepared to fight; the clashes went on for months, killing increased and prices rose. He deposed himself at the beginning of 252 and was sent down to Wasit, held in custody for nine months. He was the first to introduce wide sleeves, about three spans across, and to make caps smaller ⁴. According to al-Mas'udi he knew well the days and reports of people and loved the accounts of the past. One anecdote: he told his boon-companion that he craved food; when a loaf, vinegar and salt were brought, on the second night he said he was hungry, and explained to him the difference between the two statements. He asked him to describe food, drink, perfume, women and horses. The best food, he answered, is what meets hunger with a taste that suits desire, and the most desirable woman is the one you leave unwillingly and return to besotted; so the caliph gave him two hundred dinars ⁵. According to al-Mas'udi he was taken down to the house of al-Hasan ibn Wahb in Baghdad, then to Wasit; Sa'id al-Hajib killed him near al-Qatul on Wednesday, six nights into Shawwal 252, aged thirty-five. Nine months and a day lay between his deposition and his killing ⁶. According to al-Mas'udi he was the first to introduce wide sleeves ⁷.