Motaz
Billah: Deposition and Death
Caliph Motaz was completely under
the control of the Turk generals and whatever they wanted he would do for them.
The treasury had been drained because the generals had usurped it. The soldiers
demanded the Caliph to pay their salaries. The Caliph was helpless. Finally,
the Turks demanded payment or else they would kill Saleh bin Waseef who they
considered responsible for manipulating the Caliph.
Saleh bin Waseef was a Turk general
and the Caliph was afraid of him. Seeing the problem Motaz went to his Roman
mother Fatahyah for some money to solve the problem. She had large sums of
money but she refused to part with any on the pretext of impending poverty. The
Turks, in coalition with Saleh bin Waseef, Mohammad bin Bagha Sagheer and
Babakyal, armed themselves fully and went to the door of the Caliph's palace and
called Motaz. Caliph Motaz sent word, "I have taken medicine. I am too ill
and weak to come out." Hearing this the Turks made a forced entry into the
palace and brought out the Caliph dragging him by the legs. They beat him up,
abused him and made him stand bareheaded in the sun in the courtyard. Then
everybody who passed by slapped him in the face. When his humiliation went
beyond limits, he was asked to abdicate. He refused. Then the chief judge
Husain bin Abi Shorab and members of the government were called to witness the
dismissal of the Caliph. All of them put their signatures on it and Motaz was
thrown into a dungeon without food and water leading ultimately to his death.
This occurred in Rajab 255 A.H. He died on 8 Shaban 255 A.H.
They brought Motaz's cousin Mohammad
bin Wathiq from Baghdad and put him on the throne and bestowed on him the title
of Mohtadi Billah. When Motaz's mother saw her son's arrest and humiliation,
she escaped through a tunnel and went into hiding somewhere in Samarra. When Mohtadi
become Caliph, she received amnesty from Saleh bin Waseef, the Caliph's deputy,
and appeared in Ramadan 255 A.H. When Saleh initiated inquiries about her
wealth it came to light that she was in possession of 10,300,000 dinars and
gold and jewels worth more than that although Motaz had asked for only 50,000
dinars, a sum which would have been sufficient to put an end to the unrest in
the army. Saleh seized all her wealth and goods and said, "This unlucky
woman had her son killed for 50,000 dinars although she had millions of dinars
in her possession." Then he sent her to Makkah. She lived there until
Motamid succeeded to the throne. Then she went to Samarra where she died in 264
A.H.
Mohtadi
Billah
Mohtadi Billah bin Wathiq Billah bin
Motasim Billah bin Haroon Rasheed's real name was Mohammad and his kunya was
Abu Ishaq. He was born during his grandfather Motasim Billah's period of
Caliphate in 218 A.H. He became Caliph on 29 Rajab 255 A.H. at the age of 37.
He was light brown in complexion, lean and thin, handsome, pious and devout,
just and brave. He struggled considerably to uphold the divine commandments.
Right from his accession to his death, he continuously observed the fast but he
did not have any supporters. He came at such a bad time that it was difficult
to restore the old Islamic honor and glory. Hashim bin Qasim says: During the
month of Ramadan I was sitting near Mohtadi. It was evening. When I stood up to
leave, he asked me to sit down. Then we broke the fast together and performed
our prayer. When Mohtadi ordered supper, it was brought in a small willow
basket. It contained thin loaves of bread, a pinch of salt in a cup, vinegar in
another and olive oil in a third cup. He invited me to eat. I began to eat and
thought that more food would follow so I ate slowly. Mohtadi looked at me and
said, "Don't you observe the fast?" I said, "Yes" Then he
said, "Will you not observe it tomorrow?" I said, "It is the
month of Ramadan. Why shouldn't I observe it?" He said, "Then eat
well and don't expect that more food will be coming for there is nothing here
except this." I was taken by surprise and said, Amir al Mu'minin!
"What is this? Allāh has given you all the delicacies, conveniences and
comforts of life." He said, "Yes, that is true. However, when I reflected,
I found that Omar bin Abdul Aziz among Banu Umayyah was reduced to a skeleton
due to his under- eating and preoccupation with providing all facilities to his
subjects. Then I turned my attention to my family and I was highly ashamed to
find that we, the Banu Hashim, are quite unlike them. That is why I have
adopted the way you see." He had put a strict ban on sports and
entertainment, declared singing and playing musical instruments unlawful and
prohibited the royal staff from being tyrannical to the people. In matters of
administrative work, he was strict. He attended the court daily and handled the
cases in open court. He used to do the accounting by having the accountants sit
in front of him.
As has been recorded earlier, the
Turks also made Mohtadi Billah Caliph. After enthroning him Saleh bin Wasif,
the most influential among the Turks who dominated him most arrested and killed
Ahmad bin Israil, Zaid bin Motaz Billah and Abu Nuh and confiscated their money
and property. Then he arrested Hasan bin Mukhallad and seized his goods. When
Caliph Mohtadi Billah came to know about these incidents, he was extremely
shocked and said, "Was their arrest for an ordinary crime that they were
also killed?" Following that the Caliph turned all the slave-girls and
singers out of Samarra. He ordered all pets to be killed and the dogs to be set
free. He made Sulaiman ibn Wahab his minister. But Saleh ibn Waseef, by virtue
of his intelligence and careful planning, brought him under his control and
began to rule himself. Musa bin Bagha was not present at the time of Motaz's
deposition and Mohtadi's accession. He had been in Rayy. When he heard that
Saleh had deposed Motaz and enthroned Mohtadi, he announced his intention of
avenging Motaz's blood and marched to the capital. After he arrived, he sent a
request to the Caliph for permission to come to him. Saleh went into hiding
when he heard of Musa's arrival.
The Caliph permitted Musa to call on
him. Soon after his arrival, he captured the Caliph. He then had him mounted on
a mule and wanted to take him to the prison. Mohtadi said, "Musa! Fear
Allāh, what is it that you want?" Musa said, "My intention is good.
Please swear that you will not side with Saleh." The Caliph swore. Musa
took the oath at his hands immediately. Then Musa began to search for Saleh.
The Caliph tried to reconcile between Musa and Saleh. Consequently, Musa and
his men suspected that the Caliph knew where Saleh was and that it was he who
was concealing him. The Turks met at Musa bin Bagha's house for council, and
thought of killing or deposing Caliph Mohtadi. The Caliph came to know about
this meeting and sent for all of them to appear in his court. He himself came
to the court armed and with a face that reflected great anger. He said to the
Turks, "I have come to know about your council. Do not take me like other
Caliphs. As long as I hold the sword in my hand, I will kill most of you. I
have left my will and I am ready to kill and be killed. Remember that enmity
with me will prove fatal to you. I declare on oath that I do not know where
Saleh is." They were silent when they heard this and their conspiracy
subsided. Then Musa proclaimed a 10,000 dinars reward for the capture of Saleh.
By chance, Saleh was located and
Musa had him killed, then had his head put on a spear and taken throughout the
city. Mohtadi disapproved of it but he could not do anything against the Turk's
power. He was quite helpless. Finally, he wrote a letter to the Turk chief
named Babakyal asking him to kill Musa. Babakyal showed the letter to Musa.
Musa rushed with his army to the Caliph's palace. The people of the western
territories and Farghana defended the Caliph and a number of encounters took
place.
Meanwhile Babakyal was put in
Mohtadi's prison as a captive. Caliph Mohtadi had him killed and his head
thrown over to the Turks side. This excited them even more and the Turks who
were in the Caliph's army became angry over Babakyal's murder and went over to
Musa's army. During this period the Turks had besieged the Caliph, the subjects
of Baghdad, Samarra and other places that had been praying for Caliph Mohtadi
as they were very pleased with his justice and generosity and thought of him as
a righteous Caliph. However, the consequences were quite adverse. The Caliph
was defeated. The Turks arrested him and had his testicles crushed until he
died.
This tragedy occurred on 14 Rajab
256 A.H. Caliph Mohtadi ran his Caliphate for 15 days short of a year. He was
38 when he lost his life. After that, the Turks took Abul Abbas Ahmad bin Motawakkil
out of captivity (he was in captivity at Josaq) and put him on the throne. They
took the oath for him and chose Motamid Alallah as his title.
No comments:
Post a Comment