al-Mutawakkil ala Allah

المتوكل على الله

Abbasid caliph, killed in 247 ¹; al-Tabari mentions some of his affairs and conduct ². According to al-Suyuti he was known for enmity to Ali (nasb), immersed in pleasures and wine, had four thousand concubines and had relations with all of them. He was generous and much praised; it was said that no caliph gave a poet what he gave. Eight men, each the son of a caliph, greeted him as caliph: Mansur ibn al-Mahdi, al-Abbas ibn al-Hadi, Abu Ahmad ibn al-Rashid, Abd Allah ibn al-Amin, Musa ibn al-Ma'mun, Ahmad ibn al-Mu'tasim, Muhammad ibn al-Wathiq, and his son al-Muntasir ³. According to al-Suyuti he was the first caliph to adopt a madhhab, following that of al-Shafi'i. He said to al-Fath ibn Khaqan, when the latter described to him the finest life, a man with a spacious house, a righteous wife and a settled livelihood, who does not know us so that we might harm him, nor needs us so that we might despise him. He said to Yazid al-Muhallabi, 'The caliphs used to be harsh with the subjects so that they would obey; I am gentle with them so that they love and obey me' ⁴. According to al-Mas'udi, the days of Abu al-Wazir in the vizierate were few; he employed Muhammad ibn al-Fadl al-Jarjara'i, then 'Ubayd Allah ibn Yahya in 233, until the latter was killed. When someone informed on 'Ali ibn Muhammad al-'Alawi to him, he raided him at night, found him wearing a wool shirt and chanting verses of promise and threat, honoured him, seated him, and excused him from his cup ⁵. According to al-Mas'udi he took oaths of succession for his three sons, set down in documents and conditions: he made his heir al-Muntasir, then al-Mu'tazz, then Ibrahim al-Mu'ayyad. The oath was taken from the people accordingly, and he distributed money ⁶.

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Al-Mutawakkil ala Allah was an Abbasid caliph, acclaimed in a private pledge at the hour of al-Wathiq's death then by the public at midday. He gave his sons charge of the works including prayer, the guard, justice, grievances and the kharaj, and went out to al-Mada'in after the Ibn al-Ba'ith affair ended.

Al-Mutawakkil ala Allah, an Abbasid caliph, was acclaimed in a private pledge at the hour of al-Wathiq's death and then by the public at midday, as al-Tabari records. He gave his sons charge of the works and districts named in the book — among them prayer, the guard, justice, grievances and the kharaj. He appointed Ubayd Allah ibn Yahya ibn Khaqan as secretary, and sent his son al-Mu'tazz with Bugha al-Sharabi to visit Ishaq ibn Ibrahim in his illness. He went out to al-Mada'in in Jumada al-Ula after the Ibn al-Ba'ith affair ended.

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Al-Mutawakkil ala Allah, an Abbasid caliph, was acclaimed in a private pledge at the hour of al-Wathiq's death and then by the public at midday, as al-Tabari records. Al-Mutawakkil gave his sons charge of the works and districts named in the book — among them prayer, the guard, justice, grievances and the kharaj. He appointed Ubayd Allah ibn Yahya ibn Khaqan as secretary, and sent his son al-Mu'tazz with Bugha al-Sharabi to visit Ishaq ibn Ibrahim in his illness. Al-Mutawakkil went out to al-Mada'in in Jumada al-Ula after the Ibn al-Ba'ith affair ended.

Overview

Al-Mutawakkil ala Allah, an Abbasid caliph, given the allegiance of the elite at the moment of al-Wathiq's death, and then the allegiance of the common people at the decline of the sun. ⁷

The allegiance

Al-Tabari says that the allegiance of the elite to al-Mutawakkil was at the moment of al-Wathiq's death, and that the common people gave him the allegiance at the decline of the sun. ⁷

His sons and the offices

Al-Mutawakkil appointed his two sons to the posts and districts named in the book, among them prayer, the aides, the judgeship, the grievances and the land-tax. ⁸

Movements

He went out to al-Mada'in in Jumada al-Ula, after the affair of Ibn al-Bu'ayth had ended. ⁹

His secretaries and men

He made Ubayd Allah ibn Yahya ibn Khaqan his secretary. He sent his son al-Mu'tazz to visit Ishaq ibn Ibrahim in his illness, together with Bugha al-Shirabi. ¹⁰ ¹¹

Notes for researchers

The events here are from the first volume of al-Tabari (the third part in Khayyat's edition), extracted by reading the specified pages. Most of the material has not been put in chronological order because the years are not readable in the scanned text.
Some reports on garbled pages were left out, among them page 188 (his question to Bugha about the affair), and the page images need to be checked.
References are to scan page numbers, not to the printed pagination.
The entry is very partial; a full biography of his caliphate was not written because the other pages have not been read.

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Sources

Tarikh al-Rusul wa'l-Muluk — al-Tabari (ed. Abu al-Fadl Ibrahim) , j.9 p.226

Tarikh al-Rusul wa'l-Muluk — al-Tabari (ed. Abu al-Fadl Ibrahim) , j.9 p.230

Tarikh al-Khulafa — al-Suyuti (Dar al-Minhaj edition) , p. 539-543

Tarikh al-Khulafa — al-Suyuti (Dar al-Minhaj edition) , p. 545-547

Muruj al-Dhahab — al-Masʼudi , p. 476, 480

Muruj al-Dhahab — al-Masʼudi , p. 519-520

Tarikh al-Rusul wa'l-Muluk — al-Tabari, part three (Maktabat Khayyat, Beirut) , scan 98

Tarikh al-Rusul wa'l-Muluk — al-Tabari, part three (Maktabat Khayyat, Beirut) , scan 126

Tarikh al-Rusul wa'l-Muluk — al-Tabari, part three (Maktabat Khayyat, Beirut) , scan 110

Tarikh al-Rusul wa'l-Muluk — al-Tabari, part three (Maktabat Khayyat, Beirut) , scan 135

Tarikh al-Rusul wa'l-Muluk — al-Tabari, part three (Maktabat Khayyat, Beirut) , scan 131

Bugha, mawla of al-Mu'tasim (Bugha the Elder)

Bugha, mawla of al-Mu'tasim bi'llah (the Elder); in al-Baladhuri from Bardha'a's people: while governor of Armenia, Adharbayjan and Shimshat he rebuilt Shamkur in year 240 after the Sawardiyya had ruined it, settling in it people who came out to him from the Khazars under safe-conduct desiring Islam, transferring Bardha'a's merchants to it and naming it al-Mutawakkiliyya.