His accession was soon challenged by the supporters of the older and more experienced Abdallah ibn al-Mu'tazz, but their attempted coup in December 908 was quickly and decisively crushed.

After a period of consolidation and recovery under his father al-Mu'tadid and older half-brother al-Muktafi, al-Muqtadir's reign marks the onset of rapid decline.

[3][4] Al-Mu'tadid was the son of al-Muwaffaq, an Abbasid prince who became the Caliphate's main military commander, and de facto regent, during the rule of his brother, al-Mu'tamid (r. 870–892).

Al-Muwaffaq's power relied on his close ties with the ghilmān, the foreign-born "slave-soldiers" that now provided the professional mainstay of the Abbasid army.

He managed to overthrow the local dynasts who had seized power during the Anarchy and restore control over the Jazira, the frontier towns of the Thughur, and the Jibal, but his attempts to capture Fars and Kirman were unsuccessful.

[11][12] His successor, al-Muqtadir's older half-brother al-Muktafi, was a more sedentary figure but continued al-Mu'tamid's policies, and was able to score a major victory over the Qarmatians, and reconquer the Tulunid domains.

[13][14] All this came at the cost of gearing the state towards war: according to the historian Hugh N. Kennedy, based on a treasury document from the time of al-Mu'tadid's accession, "out of the total expenditure of 7915 dinars per day, some 5121 are entirely military, 1943 in areas (like riding animals and stables) which served both military and non-military and only 851 in areas like the bureaucracy and the harem which can be described as truly civilian (though even in this case, the bureaucrats' main purpose seems to have been to arrange the payment of the army).

The situation was further exacerbated by the fact that in the remaining provinces, semi-autonomous governors, grandees and members of the dynasty were able to establish virtual latifundia, aided by the system of muqāṭa'a, a form of tax farming in exchange for a fixed tribute, which they often failed to pay.

[18] Thus the restored Caliphate at the time of al-Muktafi's death was less than half the size than in its heyday under Harun al-Rashid (r. 786–809), but it remained a powerful and viable state, with an army that, "though it was very expensive, was probably the most effective in the Muslim world", and an almost unchallenged legitimacy as the true successors of Muhammad.

The issue of succession had been left open, and with the Caliph incapacitated, the vizier al-Abbas ibn al-Hasan al-Jarjara'i took it upon himself to seek out a successor.

[20][21] The two stories highlight different aspects of al-Muqtadir's accession: on the one hand, a cabal of officials choosing a weak and pliable ruler, "a sinister development" that inaugurated one "of the most disastrous reigns in the whole of Abbasid history [...] a quarter of a century in which all of the work of [al-Muqtadir's] predecessors would be undone",[22] while on the other hand, the issue of dynastic succession, and especially the loyalty of al-Mu'tadid's ghilmān to his family, evidently also played an important role.

The full treasury bequeathed by al-Mu'tadid and al-Muktafi meant that the donatives to the troops could easily be paid, as well as reviving the old practice of gifts to the members of the Hashimite families.

The new caliph was also able to display his largess, and solicitude for his subjects, when he ordered the demolition of a suq erected by his predecessor near Bab al-Taq, where the merchants were forced to pay rent, instead of being able to offer their wares freely as before.

His increasingly arrogant behaviour spurred the other conspirators on, and on 16 December 908, the Hamdanid commander al-Husayn ibn Hamdan led a group of men that killed the vizier as he was riding to his garden.

Al-Husayn tried the entire morning to gain entrance, but failed; and then abruptly, and without notifying his fellow conspirators, fled the city to his home of Mosul.

[25] Al-Muqtadir was the first underage Caliph in Muslim history,[28] and as such during the early years of his reign, a regency council (al-sāda, "the masters") was set up, comprising, according to al-Tanukhi, his mother Shaghab, her personal agent (qahramāna) Umm Musa, her sister Khatif, and another former concubine of al-Mu'tadid's, Dastanbuwayh.

[29][30] Saghab, usually known simply as al-Sayyida ("the Lady"), utterly "dominated her son to the exclusion of the other women in his harem, including his wives and concubines"; al-Muqtadir would spend much of his time in his mother's quarters.

As a result, government business came to be determined in the private quarters of the sovereign rather than the public palace dominated by the bureaucracy, and Saghab became one of the most influential figures of her son's reign, interfering in the appointments and dismissals of officials, making financial contributions to the treasury, and undertaking charitable activities.

Likewise, the 13th-century chronicler Ibn al-Tiqtaqa, regarded al-Muqtadir as a "squanderer" for whom "matters concerning his reign were run by women and servants, while he was busy satisfying his pleasure".

Her plotting for her favourites, the corruption of her family, and her hostility towards the "good vizier" Ali ibn Isa al-Jarrah, who was dismissed due to her machinations in 917, are underlined in the chronicles of the period.

However, when she married her niece to Abu'l-Abbas, a grandson of al-Mutawakkil (r. 847–861), her rivals were quick to accuse her of aspiring to overthrow the Caliph and place her nephew on the throne.

Another qahramāna, Zaydan, was the antithesis of Thumal: her house was used to jail several senior officials after they were dismissed, but it was a comfortable captivity, and she often provided refuge to those persecuted by their political rivals.

The people, angry at the success of the "Infidels" in Asia Minor and at similar losses in Persia, complained that the Caliph cared for none of these things and, instead of seeking to restore the prestige of Islam, passed his days and nights with slave-girls and musicians.

Yet in the East formal recognition of the Caliphate remained in place, even by those who virtually claimed their independence; and nearer home, the terrible Carmathians had been for the time put down.

Because of al-Muqtadir's ineffective rule, the prestige which his immediate predecessors had regained was lost, and the Abbasid throne became again the object of contempt at home and a tempting prize for attack from abroad.

This was a troubled period, which saw Mu'nis sent to quasi-exile in Raqqa, the widespread torture of the Banu'l-Furat's political opponents, as well as the resurgence of the Qarmatian threat with the sack of Basra and the destruction of the Hajj caravan returning from Mecca.

All this culminated in a military coup, the deposition of Ibn al-Furat, the recall of Mu'nis, and the subsequent execution of the aged vizier and his son.

[38][40][41] This marked the apogee of Mu'nis's career: he was now in virtual control of the government and a decisive voice in the appointment of Ibn al-Furat's successors as viziers.

[43] In 928, following the dismissal of his favourite, Ali ibn Isa, from the vizierate,[43] Mu'nis launched a coup and deposed al-Muqtadir and installed his half-brother al-Qahir in his place, but reneged after a few days.