al-Muti li-llah al-Fadl ibn al-Muqtadir

Al-Muti' billah, Abu al-Qasim al-Fadl ibn al-Muqtadir, an Abbasid caliph between 334 and 363 AH. His mother was a concubine called Mushaghghala, and he was born in 301 AH. ¹

He was given the allegiance when al-Mustakfi was deposed, and Mu'izz al-Dawla fixed for him a stipend of only a hundred dinars a day. ¹

Al-Suyuti relates that he rode in a boat to Mu'izz al-Dawla's house to condole with him on the death of his sister, and Mu'izz al-Dawla came out to him and kissed the ground many times. Bakhtiyar confiscated his property in 362 AH, so he sold his stuff and brought four hundred thousand dirhams, and it spread that the caliph had been confiscated. He had his deposition pronounced before the judge Ibn Umm Shaybān, and came to be called "the Virtuous Shaykh". ²

Al-Mas'udi relates that when al-Mustakfi sought al-Muti', he fled. It is said he took refuge disguised with Ahmad ibn Buyah al-Daylami, who treated him well and did not reveal him, and then went to Nasir al-Dawla al-Hasan ibn Hamdan. Al-Mustakfi sought him most intensely. ³

Al-Mas'udi gives a caliphate period ending on the first of Jumada al-Ula 336 AH, the time when he finished his book. The data do not identify its owner. This needs an additional source. ⁴