Al-Mu'ayyad

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This article is about an Abbasid prince. For other uses, see Al-Mu'ayyad (disambiguation).
Al-Mu'ayyad
المؤيد
Governor of Syria
In office
850 – 855
MonarchAl-Mutawakkil
Preceded byMalik ibn Tawk
(847–850)
Succeeded byAl-Fath ibn Hakan al-Turki
(856–861)
Personal details
Born842/844
Samarra, Abbasid Caliphate (now Iraq)
Died866
Samarra, Abbasid Caliphate
Parents
RelativesAl-Muntasir (brother)
Al-Musta'in (cousin)
Al-Mu'tazz (brother)
Al-Muhtadi (cousin)
Al-Mu'tamid (brother)

Ibrahim ibn Jaʽfar al-Mutawakkil (Arabic: ابراهيم بن جعفر المتوكل; died 866), better known by his laqab al-Mu'ayyad (المؤيد, was an Abbasid prince, the third son of the Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil, and brother of al-Muntasir and al-Mu'tazz, who both would eventually become caliphs as well.

Life[]

Al-Mu'ayyad was the son of Al-Mutawakkil and his concubine, Ishaq. She was an Andulasian, and was one of his favorites. She was the mother of his sons Ibrahim al-Mu'ayyad and Abu Ahmad (the future al-Muwaffaq).[1]

The caliph al-Mutawakkil had created a plan of succession that would allow his sons to inherit the caliphate after his death; he would be succeeded first by his eldest son, al-Muntasir, then by al-Mu'tazz and third by al-Mu'ayyad.[2]

In 860, al-Mutawakkil had named his three sons heirs and seemed to favour al-Muntasir. However, this appeared to change and al-Muntasir feared his father was going to move against him. With the implicit support of the Turkic faction of the army, he ordered the assassination of al-Mutawakkil which was carried out by a Turkic soldier on December 11, 861.

The Turkish party then prevailed on al-Muntasir to remove his brothers from the succession, fearing revenge for the murder of their father. In their place, he was to appoint his son as heir-apparent. On April 27, 862 both brothers, al-Mu'ayyad and al-Mu'tazz, wrote a statement of abdication.

Al-Muntasir's reign lasted for half a year and ended with his death of unknown causes on 862. After the death of al-Muntasir, the Turkish chiefs assembled in a council to select his successor. They did not want to elect al-Mu'ayyad or any of the brothers; so they elected al-Musta'in, another grandson of al-Mu'tasim.

In 866, al-Musta'in was deposed and al-Mu'tazz came into power. Immediately upon becoming the new Caliph, al-Mu'tazz had the former Caliph al-Musta'in executed. The Turkish soldiery, after a brawl with the Maghariba troops, now turned their support to al-Mu'ayyad. Enraged by this predicament, the jealous Caliph had his brother, al-Mu'ayyad, being next heir to the throne, imprisoned along with another brother, Abu Ahmad, who had bravely led the troops in the late struggle on his side.

The Turks attempted his release, but al-Mu'tazz, the more alarmed, resolved on his death. He was smothered in a downy robe (or, as others say, frozen in a bed of ice); and the body was then exposed before the Court, as if, being without mark of violence, he had died a natural death, (a transparent subterfuge).

Claim of conversion to Christianity[]

This period saw the rise of a legend that an Abbasid prince had converted to Christianity under the influence of , taken the name "John" and been killed for his apostasy; Alexander Vasiliev speculates that Muayyad may have been the convert. However, there is no Christian or Muslim record remotely associating Muayyad with Christianity or even, indeed, religious speculation. The motives for his murder seem to have been purely political; had he indeed converted, it would have given Mutazz an excuse to murder him for apostasy and been recorded.[3][4]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Ibn al-Sāʿī 2017, p. 36.
  2. ^ Bosworth 1993, p. 793.
  3. ^ "A History of Orthodox Missions Among the Muslims". Yurij Maximov, Russian author and religious studies teacher in the Religious Studies at the Moscow Orthodox Seminary. Archived from the original on 2008-12-06. Retrieved 2007-08-17.
  4. ^ Joseph Patrich, The Sabaite Heritage in the Orthodox Church, Peeters Publishers, 2001, ISBN 90-429-0976-5, Google Print, p. 157.

Further reading[]

  • Bosworth, C. E. (1993). "al-Muʿtazz Bi'llāh". In Bosworth, C. E.; van Donzel, E.; Heinrichs, W. P. & Pellat, Ch. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, New Edition, Volume VII: Mif–Naz. Leiden: E. J. Brill. pp. 793–794. ISBN 978-90-04-09419-2.
  • Ibn al-Sāʿī (2017). Consorts of the Caliphs: Women and the Court of Baghdad. Translated by Shawkat M. Toorawa and the Editors of the Library of Arabic Literature. Introduction by Julia Bray, Foreword by Marina Warner. New York: New York University Press. ISBN 978-1-4798-0477-1. {{cite book}}: |translator= has generic name (help)
  • This text is adapted from William Muir's public domain work, The Caliphate: Its Rise, Decline, and Fall.
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