al-Mustazhir bi'llah Ahmad ibn al-Muqtadi

Al-Mustazhir billah, Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn al-Muqtadi, an Abbasid caliph who ruled between 487 and 512 AH. ¹

He was born in Shawwal 470 AH, and was given the allegiance when his father died, at the age of sixteen. Al-Suyuti relates from Ibn al-Athir that he was gentle, generous of character, quick to do good, fine in his handwriting and excellent in his signatures, and that he loved scholars and the pious. He adds that the caliphate was never clear for him, so his days were disturbed and full of wars. ¹

He died on Wednesday, the twenty-third of Rabi al-Awwal 512 AH, after a reign of twenty-five years. Ibn Aqil, the shaykh of the Hanbalis, washed him, and his son al-Mustarshid prayed over him. His grandmother Arjuwan, mother of al-Muqtadi, died shortly after him. Al-Suyuti relates from al-Dhahabi that no caliph is known whose grandmother lived after him except this one. ²