مرض أبي أحمد الموفق ثم موته

مرض أبي أحمد الموفق ثم موته

278 ھ

In 278 Abu Ahmad al-Muwaffaq returned from the highlands to Iraq, his gout so severe that he could not ride. He died on Wednesday, eight days before the end of Safar, and was buried in al-Rusafa beside his mother's grave ^{1 2}. According to al-Mas'udi, he came from Azerbaijan gravely ill, swollen and wasting, in a wooden litter lined with silk and brocade, carried in relays on men's shoulders. He reached Baghdad on Thursday, two nights into Safar of 278. The commanders grew restless, the common people hurried to plunder the houses of the notables and secretaries, and the bridges and prison doors were opened. He died on the night of Thursday, three days before the end of Safar, aged forty-nine. His mother was a Byzantine umm walad called Asahr, and his name was Talha ³. According to Ibn al-Jawzi, Abu Ahmad al-Muwaffaq came from the highlands to Iraq in Muharram, and people met him at the river; he rode on the water, passing through al-Nahrawan, then the Diyala, then the Tigris. He was sick with gout, entered his house in early Safar, and died a few days later. Two nights before the end of Muharram a star with a mane appeared, and the mane then became a tail ⁴.