Abu Abdallah Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Mustazhir (Arabic: أبو عبد الله محمد بن أحمد المستظهر; 9 April 1096 – 12 March 1160), better known by his regnal name al-Muqtafi li-Amr Allah (المقتفي لأمر الله),[1] was the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad from 1136 to 1160, succeeding his nephew al-Rashid, who had been forced to abdicate by the Seljuks.
The continued disunion and contests between Seljuk Turks afforded al-Muqtafi opportunity of not only maintaining his authority in Baghdad, but also extending it throughout Iraq.
Not long after the siege of Damascus, al-Mustarshid launched a military campaign against Seljuk sultan Mas'ud, who had obtained the title in Baghdad in January 1133 by the caliph himself.
Baghdad, well defended by the river and its canals, resisted the attack; but in the end the caliph and Zengi, hopeless of success, escaped to Mosul.
[1] He was able to use the infighting of the Seljuks to safeguard his own control over Baghdad, and even gradually extend his rule over much of Iraq.
[1] In 1148, he successfully fought off a group of Seljuk generals who rebelled against Sultan Mas'ud and marched on Baghdad.
[1] Following the death of Mas'ud in October 1152, and the ensuing contest for the sultanate among the Seljuks, al-Muqtafi played an active role.
[1] Awn al-Din ibn Hubayra was appointed as the vizier of the Caliph, a post he kept for sixteen years until his death on 27 March 1165, commonly attributed to poisoning through his physician, who was in the pay of his rivals.
[5] During his caliphate, the Crusades were raging and Zengi, the atabeg of Mosul and founder of Zengid dynasty, obtained high distinction as a brave and generous warrior.
A charter of protection granted by al-Muqtafi in 1139 to the Nestorian patriarch Abdisho III was published in 1926 by the Assyrian scholar Alphonse Mingana.
[6] One of his wives was Fatimah Khatun, the daughter of Sultan Muhammad I Tapar and his wife Nistandar Jahan.
She wanted her own son to succeed and after her husband's death in 1160, She gained over many amirs to her side, and had their slave-girls armed with daggers to kill the new caliph.