[3] When the coup happened, al-Muti' left Baghdad along with the expelled members of the Buyid clan, but Sabuktakin forced him back and confined him to his palace.

[11] Al-Muti' was induced to abdicate with his health as a pretext, and was replaced by his oldest son, Abu Bakr Abd al-Karim, as Caliph al-Ta'i' li'llah on 5 August 974 (13 Dhu'l-Qa'dah 363 AH).

[14] Like his father, al-Ta'i' is considered by medieval and modern historians alike to have been a powerless figurehead, limited to appending his name to certificates of appointment and official correspondence, with others holding the real power.

[4] He played no role even in the numerous religious controversies of his day, and little is known about his activities other than his often conducting the Friday prayer at the Kadhimayn mosque,[15] and his rebuilding the Bab al-hassa, one of the principal gates to the caliphal palace complex.

[16] The historian Heribert Busse however points out that al-Ta'i' managed to maintain his office for sixteen years in a very turbulent time, involving no fewer than six regime changes in Baghdad, and credits him with political acumen and flexibility.

[23] At any rate, al-Ta'i' was soon able to recover his position at least somewhat, making use of the Buyids' quarrels and their need for legitimacy: in Baghdad, Adud al-Dawla deposed his cousin and assumed rule of the city.

[31] The caliph pointedly refused these demands, and even had a barrier built in front of the audience chamber, so that the Buyid ruler had no choice but dismount and enter on foot.

[32] Al-Ta'i' did, however, agree to the addition of some details to the ceremony that hearkened back to ancient Persian protocol, and that made it appear to the Buyid's companions as if Adud al-Dawla had been crowned king by the caliph.

[35] As the coronation episode reveals, Adud al-Dawla, and the Buyids generally, relied increasingly on pre-Islamic Persian traditions, ceremonies, and titles to bolster their position and claim an independent source of legitimacy.

[36][37][38] According to C. E. Bosworth, the Buyid ruler aimed at "a division of power between the caliphate and the monarchy, equivalent to the mediaeval European theories of church and empire", a conception entirely alien to al-Ta'i's worldview.

[40] The dismissal of Ibn Ma'ruf in particular was a violation of the main remaining prerogative of the caliph under Buyid rule, namely the appointment of the chief qadi of Baghdad and Iraq.

[44] When Adud al-Dawla returned to Baghdad in 980, following his eastern campaigns, al-Ta'i' in person led the Buyid emir into the city; an unprecedented event, but, as Bosworth comments, "once again the caliph seems to have failed to appreciate the significance of the ceremony in which he was taking part".

[45][46] This led to the final breach between al-Ta'i' and Adud al-Dawla, who introduced the provocative, Persian-derived and entirely un-Islamic title of shahanshah ('King of Kings') into his coinage even in Iraq.

[55][56] In the event, Sharaf al-Dawla quickly reneged on the agreement: using clashes between Daylamites and Turks in Baghdad as a pretext, he marched on the city, captured and imprisoned his brother in January 987, and was invested by the caliph as chief emir in May 987.

[58] Bereft of money with which to pay his army, the Buyid emir followed the advice of the powerful head of the chancery, Abu'l-Hasan ibn al-Mu'allim, to depose al-Ta'i' in order to seize the caliphal treasury.

[62] Al-Ta'i' died at the palace on 3 August 1003, and was buried in Rusafa,[4][5] at a mausoleum he had erected across from the tombs of his father, al-Muti', and of his great-grandmother, the mother of al-Muqtadir, Shaghab.

[4][5][64] Furthermore, a relative of the deposed caliph, Abdallah ibn Ja'far, managed to escape custody in Baghdad and fled to Gilan, where he persuaded the local ruler that he was indeed al-Ta'i'.