Beautiful Egypt 268 – Caliph Al Muqtadir – October, 31, 2018

   In the previous article, we tackled Ibn al Mu’taz who ruled as a Caliph only for one day and night, after which he was ousted, then killed together with his son and some of the judges and scholars who had previously supported him in ousting Al Muqtadir. We also tackled the weak period of Al Muqtadir’s rule, and the rising power of the Qarmatians, which made things worse, and wars were raged against cities and pilgrimage caravans.

   Al Muqtadir sent armies to fight the Qarmatians; one following another, the ruler of Al Kufa was one of the commanders who fought  them with his army, yet he was crushingly defeated by the Qarmatians, who entered al Kufa city, stayed for six days there, looting money and garments before leaving it.

   In 315 AH (927 AD), the Caliph sent another commander to fight the Qarmatians, yet he was defeated too. Through these victories, the Qarmatians’ state was greatened, they threatened Baghdad and the surrounding cities, seized Al Anbar and Al Jazira, and then they came back to Al Kufa where their supporters’ number increased greatly.

   In 317 AH (929 AD), the Qarmatians marched to Mecca during the Hajj season, robbing the houses of its people, looting their money and killing them, they plucked out the Black Stone and stole the Kiswah (cloth) of the Ka’aba, Al Khudry says, “It has never happened throughout history that this house’s inviolability was toppled to this extent”! When Al Mahdi Obaidullah al Alawi knew about this, he wrote to Abu Tahir (the leader of the Qarmatians) condemning his deeds, blaming and cursing him, saying: “You have attached to our followers and our state advocates the attributes of apostasy and atheism because of what you have done, unless you return what you have looted from the people of Mecca and the pilgrims, restore the Black Stone to its place, and the Kiswah of the Ka’aba, I am innocent of you in the world and in the afterlife)… The Qarmatians restored the Black Stone and some of the money looted from the people of Mecca, yet Abu Tahir didn’t manage to restore the Kiswah of the Ka’aba and the money of the pilgrims.

Al Muqtadir and the Byzantine State

   The Romans raided on the outskirts of the Abbasid State in 303 AH (915 AD). In 305 AH (917 AD) a ransom took place between the two states, yet peace did not last for too long, as in 313 AH (925 AD) the people of the ports refused to pay money to the Roman King, so he waged a war against them in 314 AH (926 AD) and destructed Malita. In the following year, the Romans raided on Debail city yet failed in entering it, four years later, the Abbasids attacked the Roman Country.

Al Muqtadir’s Murder

   In 317 AH (929 AD), some statesmen plotted to oust Al Muqtadir; they succeeded in that, and announced joining his brother Al Qaher, however, the General Commander of the army then Mo’nis al Muzaffar overcame them, and restored the caliph to the throne. Yet, a dispute arose between Mo’nis and Al Muqtadir’s minister, so Mo’nis went to Mosul and took over it, which intensified his authority and increased his supporters. Meanwhile, Baghdad affairs were getting worse, so the caliph summoned him to assist him in the ruling affairs, so Mo’nis decided to return to the capital. However, before arriving there, the caliph was aroused against him, and prepared an army to fight him, yet Mo’nis defeated him and killed the caliph in 320 AH (932 AD), and the throne was succeeded by his brother Abu Mansour Muhammad al Qaher.

   As for the Coptic Church at that time, it had passed through a great distress after the death of its 56^th Patriarch, Pope Mikhail I. As we mentioned earlier, the Church was unable to ordain a patriarch due to great disputes then, it remained without a father patriarch for a long time, until Abba Bakhoum, the Bishop of Taha interfered and spoke to the governor who appreciated him dearly, thus, Pope Ghabrial I was seated on the See of St. Mark the Apostle, becoming the 57^th patriarch among the Patriarchs of Alexandria, and…

Stories about beautiful Egypt never end!

The General Bishop

Head of Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center