Al-Muwaffaq
Talha, commonly known by the teknonym Abu Ahmad, was born on 29 November 843, as the son of the Caliph Ja'far al-Mutawakkil (r. 847–861) and a Greek slave concubine, Ashar, known as Umm Ishaq.
[5] The murder was almost certainly instigated by al-Mutawakkil's son and heir, al-Muntasir, who immediately ascended the throne;[6] nevertheless Abu Ahmad's own role in the affair is suspect as well, given his close ties later on with the Turkish military leaders.
[5] This murder opened a period of internal upheaval known as the "Anarchy at Samarra", where the Turkish military chiefs vied with other powerful groups, and with each other, over control of the government and its financial resources.
[7][8] It was during this period of turmoil, in February 865, that Caliph al-Musta'in (r. 862–866) and two of the senior Turkish officers, Wasif and Bugha the Younger, fled from Samarra to the old Abbasid capital, Baghdad, where they could count on the support of the city's Tahirid governor, Muhammad ibn Abdallah.
[9][10] It was most likely during this time that Abu Ahmad consolidated his relationship with the Turkish military, especially with Musa ibn Bugha, who played a crucial role during the siege.
[5][11] On his return to Samarra, Abu Ahmad was initially received with honour by the Caliph, but six months later he was thrown into prison as a potential rival, along with another of his brothers, al-Mu'ayyad.
Immediately he hastened north to Samarra, where he and Musa ibn Bugha effectively sidelined the new Caliph, al-Mu'tamid (r. 870–892), and assumed control of the government.
[3][5] His power was further expanded on 20 July 875, when the Caliph included him in the line of succession after his own underage son, Ja'far al-Mufawwad, and divided the empire in two large spheres of government.
[12] "The defeat of these two formidable rebellions—and the consequent rescue of the ʾAbbásid Caliphate from an untimely extinction—was due chiefly to the energy and resource of a remarkable man, the Emir al-Muwaffaq."
[13] The main military threats to the Abbasid Caliphate were the Zanj Rebellion in southern Iraq and the ambitions of Ya'qub ibn al-Layth, the founder of the Saffarid dynasty, in the east.
The Abbasids tried to prevent an attack by Ya'qub by formally recognizing him as governor over all the eastern provinces and by granting him special honours, including adding his name to the Friday sermon and appointment to the influential position of sahib al-shurta (chief of police) in Baghdad.
[23] After Ya'qub died from illness in the same year, his brother and successor, Amr ibn al-Layth, hacknowledged the Caliph's suzerainty and had been rewarded with the governorship over the eastern provinces and the position of sahib al-shurta of Baghdad—essentially the same posts the Tahirids had held—in exchange for an annual tribute of one million dirhams.
[27] In 890, al-Muwaffaq again attempted to take back Fars, but this time the invading Abbasid army under Ahmad ibn Abd al-Aziz was defeated, and another agreement restored peaceful relations and Amr's titles and possessions.
Abu'l-Abbas was joined in 880 by al-Muwaffaq himself, and in a succession of engagements in the marshes of southern Iraq, the Abbasid forces drove back the Zanj towards their capital, Mukhtara, which fell in August 883.
The son of a Turkish slave, Ibn Tulun had been the province's governor since the reign of al-Mu'tazz, and expanded his power further in 871, when he expelled the caliphal fiscal agent and assumed direct control of Egypt's revenue, which he used to create an army of ghilman of his own.
[33][34] Preoccupied with the more immediate threats of the Saffarids and the Zanj rebels, as well as with keeping in check the Turkish troops and managing the internal tensions of the caliphal government, al-Muwaffaq was unable to react.
[37] Al-Muwaffaq, who in his fight against the Zanj considered himself entitled to the major share of the provincial revenues, was angered by this, and by the implied machinations between Ibn Tulun and his brother.
[38][39] In a public gesture of support for al-Mu'tamid and opposition to al-Muwaffaq, Ibn Tulun assumed the title of 'Servant of the Commander of the Faithful' (mawla amir al-mu'minin) in 878.
Having served in his youth in the border wars with the Byzantine Empire at Tarsus, he now requested to be conferred the command of the frontier districts of Cilicia (the Thughur).
[42] Following his return from Syria, Ibn Tulun added his own name to coins issued by the mints under his control, along with those of the Caliph and heir apparent, al-Mufawwad,[43] thus proclaiming himself as a de facto independent ruler.
[1] In October 892, al-Mu'tamid died and Abu'l-Abbas al-Mu'tadid brushed aside his cousin to ascend the throne, quickly emerging as "the most powerful and effective Caliph since al-Mutawakkil" (Kennedy).
