Category: Announcements

The events of the Abbasid caliphs continue.  This reign is interesting for a curious storm that affected Egypt in 284 AH / 897 AD.

CALIPHATE OF AL-MU`TADID (279-289/892-902).

1. The bay’ah was given to al-Mu’tadid bi’llāh Abū’l-‘Abbās, i.e. Ahmad b. Abū Ahmad al-Muwaffaq bi’llāh b. Ga’far al-Mutawakkil ‘alā’llāh – his mother was an umm walad named Sirār.  The bay’ah was given to him on the same day that al-Mu’tamid died, eleven days before the end of the month of Rağab of the year 279 [of the Hegira].  The revolts ceased, the countries returned to order, the wars stopped, each rebel accepted peace, and prices fell sharply.

2. Al-Mu’tadid sent to ask Khumārawayh b. Ahmad b. Tūlūn to give him his daughter in marriage.  Khumārawayh consented, and sent her with great riches, slaves, and maidservants.  They made peace and order was restored.  Khumārawayh b. Ahmad b. Tūlūn left Egypt for Syria and stopped at Damascus.  He had built, outside Damascus, below the dayr Murrān, on the “Thawrah” River, a palace that used to be his residence.  Khumārawayh was killed in this palace that he built, near Damascus, on Sunday night, three days before the end of the month of dhū’l-qa’da of the year 282 [of the Hegira].  His servants, Zāhir, Sābūr, Lu’lu ‘, Natīf, Shafi` ash-Sharābi and Ghanā’im, were charged with his killing.  These servants were then killed and their heads were taken to Egypt, while their bodies were crucified at Damascus.  Khumārawayh was taken in a coffin from Damascus to Egypt, and was buried on mount al-Muqattam.  Egypt was shaken by violent riots because of Khumārawayh and his death.

3. After him there was appointed governor of Egypt Gaysh ibn Khumārawayh.  Gaysh returned from Damascus to Egypt and stayed there for eight months. Then there were serious dissensions between him and the commanders.  They rose up against him and killed him.  His brother Hārūn ibn Khumārawayh took his place, at the age of ten years, in the month of rağab of the year 283 [of the Hegira].

4. Al-Mu’tadid wrote a letter to Hārūn b. Khumārawayh, in which he entrusted him with the rule of Egypt.  Hārūn was ten years old and his regent was Abū Ga’far b. Muhammad b. Abā at-Turki.

5.  On the night of Thursday, two days before the end of the month of Rabī’al-awwal of the year 284 [of the Hegira], a strange phenomenon happened in Egypt.  The Christians were intent on celebrating the feast of the Ascension into heaven of our Lord Christ, when wild and violent winds blasted them, from dinner time until midnight.  At midnight, then, there came such a thick darkness that nobody could see their fingers even if they were in their eyes.  Then the harsh winds of earlier returned, taking off the roofs of many houses.  On the heads of people, gathered in their homes, there was a rain of red sand.  At the four corners of the heavens there were flaming columns of fire.  This lasted until dawn.  Then the wind calmed a little and the sky became intensely red, like a flame of fire, with a cold wind.  The earth, the mountains, the trees, the people and their clothes, and all that they could see, looked red because of the intensity of the red sky.  The red [sky] lasted for two hours, then turned yellow until noon.  Then the yellow vanished and the sky became black all day and until noon the day after, before dissolving.  The sun did not appear for a day and a half, from when the winds began to blow, until the black clouds broke.

6. On the morning of Wednesday, 9th of the month of Dhū’l-qa’da of the year 288, there was also, in Egypt, from midnight to dawn, a violent movement of the stars, which the vulgar called falling stars.  The sky was full of such stars coming down from east, west, south and north.  No one could watch the heavens because of the many falling stars.^[1] In the first year of the caliphate of al-Mu’tadid, there became patriarch of Antioch Simeon, son of Zarnāq. He held office for twelve years and died.

7. As for Leo, king of the Rūm, his wife died without having children.  He decided to remarry, but the Patriarch of Constantinople, Nicolas, forbade him, saying, “You are not allowed to marry, because you have been consecrated as an anagnoste [= a reader] and you have to fulfill the priestly prayer. If you marry, you will not be allowed to come to the altar.”  King Leo replied: “I decided to marry only in order to have a son who can inherit the kingdom after me.” But the patriarch did not allow him to marry.  Then King Leo wrote to the patriarch of Rome, to Michael, the patriarch of Alexandria, to Elijah, son of Mansur, patriarch of Jerusalem, and to Simeon son of Zarnach, patriarch of Antioch, asking them to go to him in order to examine whether he was allowed to get married or not.  None of them could go in person to the king, but each one sent their own messenger.  The bishops gathered together with the messengers at Constantinople to examine the case of the king and pronounced in favour of his marriage.  King Leo married and had a son called Constantine.  Nicholas was removed from his office and Anthimus was made patriarch of Constantinople.

8. Al-Mu’tadid bi’llāh died on Sunday, nine days before the end of the month of al-ākkar of the year 289.  His caliphate lasted seven years, nine months and two days.  He died at the age of forty-seven.  The administrators of his property were the freedman Badr and `Ubayd Allah b. Sulaymān, who was succeeded in the place that he occupied by his son al-Qasim b. ‘Ubayd Allah (204). Al-Mu’tadid was handsome in his face and body, and he spent much time accumulating riches.

1. ^[1]Does he perhaps mean that astronomy became impossible?  There is no explanation of these interesting events in the notes of the Italian.  I find discussion of this, however, in Richard B. Stothers, “Cloudy and clear stratospheres before A.D. 1000 inferred from written sources“, Journal of Geophysical Research 107 (2002), online here: “2.14. A.D. 897 [26] Red skies in Egypt made the outdoor surroundings appear red (Eutychius of Alexandria, Annals, Migne, PG, 111, 1144; al-Tabari, Annals, A.H. 284; Elias of Nisibis, Chronicle, p. 92, Brooks). This event, which occurred only on 5 May and only near Alexandria, was apparently caused by a red sandstorm, as mentioned by the chroniclers.”.↩

We’re getting to what for Eutychius is modern times.  The next caliph, al-Mutamid, seems to be almost a figurehead, in the account that Eutychius gives.  Real power is in the hands of Abu Ahmad al-Muwaffaq, and he is challenged by the ruler of Egypt.  The Abbasid caliphate is becoming merely a convention.

Eusebius in his chronicle paused at various important points to reckon up the total years from various critical events.  The power of the Eusebian tradition is still strong, even in Eutychius.  He retains this, but modestly considers the date of his own birth to be such an important point!

CALIPHATE OF AL-MU`TAMID BI’LLĀH (256-279/870-893).

1. The bay’ah was given to al-Mu’tamid bi’llāh, i.e. Ahmad ibn Ga’far al-Mutawakkil – his mother was an umm walad named Qiyān, in the month of Rağab of the year 256. His minister, Abd Allah ibn Yahya, was the son of that Khāqān who was previously the minister of al-Mutawakkil.

2.  Wars and revolts followed, in regions and provinces the disorder increased and throughout the territory the number of contenders multiplied. The days of his caliphate were a continuous succession of revolts and wars.  The management of internal affairs was entrusted to Abu Ahmad al-Muwaffaq bi’llāh, al-Mu’tamid’s brother.  Al-Mu’tamid named as his successor his son Ga’far, calling him al-Mufawwid ilà’llāh, and after him, his brother Abū Ahmad b. al-Mutawakkil, giving him the name of al-Muwaffaq bi’llāh.  Abū Ahmad personally headed the military campaigns and made tiring and fatiguing journeys from country to country, while al-Mu’tamid enjoyed himself with pleasures and amusements.

3.  At Basra, ‘Ali ibn Muhammad b. Ahmad b. ‘Ali b. Yazīd b. ‘Ali b. Al-Husayn b. ‘Ali b. Abi Tālib revolted against him, on Monday, two days before the end of the month of Ramadan of the year 256.  He killed all the inhabitants of Basra, took possession of their property and captured their women and children, dividing them among his men. He defeated Basra, and occupied its surroundings and the province.  Abū Ahmad al-Muwaffaq marched against him in the direction of Basra, and there was a war between them for fourteen years.  Then the descendant of Ali was killed at Basra, on the Abū Safyān River at the confluence of the Abū’l-Khasib River on which was built the city called “al-Mukhtārah”, on Wednesday, in the cool of the evening, of the 4th of the month of Safar of the year 270.  From the day when he arose and his banner was raised to the day when he was killed, fourteen and four months and six days elapsed.

4. Muhammad (sic!) Ibn Tūlūn had occupied Egypt and Syria and captured Antioch while Abū Ahmad al-Mutawaffaq (sic!) was preoccupied with the war against the descendant of Ali in Basra.  In the first year of al-Mu’tamid’s caliphate there became patriarch of Antioch Stephen.  He held office for one day and died on the same day after having celebrated Mass.  After him there became patriarch of Antioch Theodosius.  He held office for twenty-one years and died.  In the tenth year of his caliphate there became patriarch of Jerusalem Elijah, son of that Mansūr who had helped the Muslims to conquer Damascus and was accursed all over the world.  He held office for twenty-two years and died.

5. The Patriarch of Alexandria Michael, son of Bukām, died in the year 256 and was buried in the city of Būrah.  After him there became patriarch of Alessandria Michael, originally from Rome (in another text it is said “from Ghazza”), in the third year of the caliphate of al-Mu’tamid, i.e. in 258.  He held office thirty-four years and died in 292, and was buried in Alexandria.

6. Basil, King of the Rūm, died.  After him reigned his son Leo.  He was a wise man and a philosopher.  In the eighth year of the caliphate of al-Mu’tamid, Sa’id ibn Batrīq the physician was born on Sunday, three days before the end of the month of Dhū’l-hiğğa, in the lunar year 263.  From the Hegira until the day of his birth, there elapsed two hundred and fifty-four solar years, years with which he was dating history.  From Diocletian to the birth of Sa’id ibn Batrīq the physician, there elapsed 568 years (in another text “592”); from our Lord Jesus Christ to the birth of Sa’id ibn Batrīq, there elapsed 868 years; from Alexander to his birth, there elapsed 1,199 years; from the captivity of Babylon to his birth, there elapsed 1,450 years; from David until his birth, there elapsed 1,927 years; from the exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt until his birth, there elapsed 2,535 years; from Abraham to his birth, there elapsed 3,040 years; from Fāliq until his birth, there elapsed 3,540 years; from the flood until his birth, there elapsed 4,160 years; from Adam until his birth, there elapsed 6,368 years.  It was sixty years from his birth when he was made patriarch of Alexandria and was called anba Eutychius.^[1]

7. As for Ahmad ibn Tūlūn, he occupied Antioch and then returned to Egypt. In Misr he built the great mosque that looked out over the lake, built a hospital and a construction bringing water from the lake called “al-Habas”, so that it could serve the Ma’āqir. Ahmad ibn Tūlūn contracted the illness from which he would subsequently die, that is, gastroenteritis, and ordered Muslims, Christians and Jews to climb the mountain called “al-Muqattam” to invoke the help of God upon him. And so they did, going up to the mountain in groups and invoking on him the blessing of God.  However he died of that illness, on the night of Sunday, ten days before the end of the month of Dhū’l-qa’da of the year 270 and was buried on mount al-Muqattam. His commanders gathered together, killed his elder son at Abbas and chose as their leader his younger son, Khumārawayh b. Ahmad b. Tūlūn. He was then twenty years old.  He marched on Damascus at the head of his soldiers and was faced by Abū’l-`Abbās b. Al-Muwaffaq: they met at “at-Tawwāhin”, in the province of Palestine.  Khumārawayh b. Ahmad b. Tūlūn was put to flight and returned to Egypt alone.  During the journey he lost five horses and many of his people were killed.  Abū’l-`Abbās took over all that he found among the soldiers of Khumārawayh b. Ahmad [b. Tulun].  Khumārawayh ibn Ahmad had some men in ambush, completely unaware of the defeat [suffered by their comrades].  As Abu’l-‘Abbās and his men became burdened by all the property that they had taken, they were put to flight and a great slaughter was made.  Then the men of Khumārawayh returned, recaptured the army, returned to Egypt and celebrated the victory with Khumārawayh.  Abu’l-`Abbās returned defeated to Baghdad where he received the blame of his father al-Muwaffaq for what he had done.  Khumārawayh had a large army in Syria.  In the seventeenth year of the caliphate of al-Mu’tamid, that is, in 273, there was a terrible earthquake in Egypt: many houses collapsed and many people lost their lives. That year the grain reached the price of a dinar per mudd. The populace died out from hunger, and even the lynx came to eat them. The markets of Egypt were full of the dead.  They were carried away on camels – on each camel were stacked up to eight corpses – they dug a big ditch and threw them inside.  When Khumārawayh learned that Muhammad ibn Diyūdād, i.e. Abū’s-Sāg, had arrived in Syria at the head of a large army heading for Egypt, he gathered his troops and moved against him.  There was a terrible battle between them at a place called al-Bathaniyyah, in the province of Damascus, and Muhammad ibn ad-Diyūdād, i.e. Ibn as-Sāg, was put to flight.  Many of his forces were killed, but many others sought to be spared by pleading for the protection of Khumārawayh, who continued his journey until he came to the Euphrates.  His men entered the city of ar-Raqqah, buying and selling. Al-Muwaffaq was afraid of him.  Then Khumārawayh returned to Egypt after imposing his sovereignty over the territories from the Euphrates to Nubia, leaving in each country a man as his deputy.  It was the year 276 [of the Hegira].  Al-Muwaffaq died in the month of Safar of the year 278.  His son Abū’l-`Abbās was recognised as his legitimate successor.  Ga’far ibn al-Mu’tamid (194) was deprived of the right of succession to the throne and the management of business went into the hands of Abū’l-‘Abbās ibn al-Muwaffaq who was called al-Mu’tadid.

8. Al-Mu’tamid died at Baghdad on Sunday, eleven days before the end of the the month of Rağab of the year 279 [of the Hegira].  His caliphate lasted twenty-three years and six days.  He died at the age of forty-six.  He was taken to Surramanra’à and was buried there.

1. ^[1]I became aware part way through this that Google translate was generating random numbers for these large numerals.  I went back and rechecked, but it is possible that I have been silently deceived for some earlier numbers.↩

We’re not that far from the close of Eutychius’ Annals, in his own times.  But we still have a few Abbasid caliphs to go through.  None of the next few caliphs lasted very long. Ominously the Turks start to appear as the king-makers.

CALIPHATE OF AL-MUNTASIR BI’LLAH (247-248/861-862).

1.  The bay’ah was given to al-Muntasir bi’llāh/Abū Ğa‘far/ Muhammad b. /Ğa‘far/ al-Mutawakkil – his mother was an umm walad named Hasanah – on the same night that al-Mutawakkil was killed.  Five days after he obtained the caliphate, he moved from al-Ga’fariyyah to Surramanra’ah, destroying al-Ga’fariyyah and abandoning al-Gawsaq.  He deprived his two brothers, Abu ‘Abd Allah al-Mu’tazz bi’llāh and Ibrāhim al-Mu’ayyad bi’llāh, of the right of succession, and wrote letters about this to every part of his territory.  His caliphate lasted one year, six months and three days.  He died at the age of twenty-eight and was buried at Surramanra’a.  His mother raised his tomb: for no caliph before him was a tomb erected.  Al-Muntasir was of medium stature, handsome of body, brown and obese. The chief of his bodyguard was Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn Zāhir and his huğğāb were Abū Nāsirat-Turki and Ahmad ibn al-Hasīb.

CALIPHATE OF AL-MUSTA`IN (248-252/862-866).

1. The commanders of the Turks got together to choose the one to whom to give the bay`ah.  They rejected al-Mutawakkil’s son and their choice fell on Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Mu’tasim – his mother was an umm walad named Mukhādiq. They gave him the bay’ah and called him al-Musta`in bi’llāh. But as a result of an uprising within the army and a turmoil among the Mawāli^[1], al-Musta`in fled, along with the Turks Wasif and Bughā, to Baghdad.  The Mawāli and the forces who were at Surramanra’a placed on the throne Abū ‘Abd Allah ibn al-Mu’tazz b. al-Mutawakkil – his mother was an umm walad named Fabtahah – and gave him the bay’ah at the beginning of the month of al-Muharram of the year 251.  Great disagreements and fighting broke out between the men of al-Musta`in, of al-Mu’tazz, and of Abū Ahmad ibn al-Mutawakkil, in charge of al-Mu’tazz’s military affairs.  They continued to fight until the beginning of the month of al-Muharram of the year 252. Then al-Musta`in abdicated and there was peace.  Al-Musta`in wrote of his decision to al-Mu’tazz, who answered him by guaranteeing his safety with an oath.  Then he retired to Iraq, to Wāsit.  His caliphate lasted three years and eight months until the day of abdication.

2. In the first year of the caliphate of al-Musta`in, there was made patriarch of Jerusalem Theodorus, called al-Miqlāti.  He held the office for nineteen years and died.  Al-Musta`in was fat, handsome in body, and had a black beard.  The chief of the bodyguard was Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn Zāhir, and his huğgāb were the Turks Wasif and Bughā.

CALIPHATE OF AL-MU`TAZZ (252-255/866-869).

1. All the Turks, and the others who were in Surramanra’a, gave the bay’ah to al-Mu’tazz, in the month of al-Muharram of the year 251, while al-Musta`in was in Baghdad, and the countries were at the mercy of tumults, and most people were on the side of al-Musta`in.  So when al-Musta`in abdicated, at the beginning of the month of al-Muharram of the year 252, the people made submission to [al-Mu’tazz].  Al-Mu’tazz restored the right of succession to the throne to Ibrāhim al-Mu’ayyad bi’llāh (156) but then took it away.  Ibrāhim al-Mu’ayyad bi’llāh died.  Abu Ahmad conceived a violent hatred against al-Mu’tazz because of what had happened to his brother.  Al-Mu’tazz then exiled him to Basra, and killed Wasīf and Bughā. Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allah b. Zāhir, chief of the guards, died.  [Al-Mu’tazz] recalled al-Musta`in  from Wāsit and gave the job of killing him to his hāgib, Sa`īd ibn Sālih.

2. Theophilus, son of Michael, son of Theophilus, king of the Rūm, died.  After him, his son Michael, son of Theophilus, son of Michael, reigned.  There was at that time a general named Basil, whom the king had preferred to all the others, giving him command over all his men and generals.  One day, King Michael went out for a walk on the island opposite Constantinople, in the middle of the sea called Pontus.  The general Basil attacked him, killed him inside the church on the island, got rid of all those who were on the island and took over the kingdom.  Basil did not belong to the royal family, because he was of Slavic origin.  When asked why he had killed the king, he replied, “Michael had fallen madly in love with a woman and had ordered me to marry her but never to approach her.  The woman would be mine in words, but he would be sleeping with her.” He had resorted to this expedient for fear that his wife knew him,^[2] and also because he was not allowed to marry another woman in addition to his wife.  “First I followed him, then I felt repentance, I was afraid of God, and I thought it best to kill him.”  Thus Basil became king of the Rūm.

3. Al-Mu’tazz appointed as governor of Egypt the Turk Bākbāk, who appointed as his lieutenant Ahmad ibn Tulūn and sent him to Egypt.  Bākbāk had given his daughter in marriage to Ahmad ibn Tūlūn.  Ahmad ibn Tūlūn entered Egypt in the month of Ramadan in the year 254.  Between al-Mu’tazz and the Mawāli there were strong disagreements.

4. Al-Mu`tazz died on Tuesday, three days before the end of the month of Ragab of the year 255.  His caliphate had lasted, from al-Musta`in’s abdication, three years, nine months and eight days.  He died at the age of twenty-two and was buried at Surramanra’a.  His mother erected his tomb near that of al-Muntasir.  Al-Mu’tazz was of a fair complexion, handsome, with a handsome face and a graceful body.  There had never been one equal to him for the grace of face and beauty. The chief of his bodyguard was Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allah b. Zāhir, and, on  his death, ‘Ubayd Allah ibn ‘Abd Allah b. Zāhir.  Then the guard passed to the command of Sulaymān ibn ‘Abd Allah b. Zāhir (167), and was later entrusted to Ubayd Allah ibn ‘Abd Allah b. Zāhir.  His huğgāb were Wasif and Bughā, then Sālih took the place of his father [Wasīf] and Bākbāk at-Turki took that of Bughā.

CALIPHATE OF AL-MUHTADĪ (255-256/869-870).

1.  The bay’ah was given to al-Muhtadī, i.e. Muhammad ibn Hārūn al-Wāthiq bi’llāh b. al-Mu’tasim bi’llāh – his mother was an umm walad named Qurb – on Tuesday, three days before the end of the month of Rağab of the year 255.  His caliphate lasted only one year. He was killed at the age of thirty-nine and was buried at Surramanra’a. Al-Muhtadī was of medium stature, handsome in body and face, and had a black curly beard.  The chief of his bodyguard was Ubayd Allah ibn ‘Abd Allah and his hāgib was Sālih ibn Wasif. Then Sālih was killed and Takin at-Turki took the place.

1. ^[1]The freed slaves.↩
2. ^[2]Not sure that I have this right: the Italian is “Era ricorso a questo espediente per paura che lo sapesse sua moglie, …”.↩

Let’s carry on with the Annals of Eutychius.  In the Islamic world, the second-class status of the Christians means that they hold their property only at the whim of the caliph.  This starts to become an increasing problem.  Meanwhile in Constantinople the talk is all about iconoclasm.

CALIPHATE OF ĞA‘FAR AL-MUTAWAKKIL (232-247/847-861).

1. The bay’ah was given to Ga’far al-Mutawakkil, son of al-Mu’tasim – his mother was an umm walad named Shuğā ‘al-Khwārizmiyyah – on the same day that al- Wathiq died.  He released those who had been imprisoned because of the question of the creation of the Qur’an, and withdrew his favour from Muhammad ibn Abd al-Malik, minister of al-Mu’tasim, and disapproved of the actions of al-Mu’tasim, of al-Wāthiq, of Umar ibn al-Farah az-Zugahi, of Itāh at-Turki and of Ahmad ibn Abi Dāwūd, the supreme qādi.  He gave the bay’ah to his three sons, namely Muhammad al-Muntasir bi’llāh, Ibrāhim al-Mu’ayyad min Allah and Abū ‘Abd Allah al-Mu’tazz bi’llāh, designating the latter as his successor from the beginning of the year 236 of the Hegira.  Public affairs were restored, the countries returned to order and the streets made safe.

2. It was reported to al-Mutawakkil that the nilometer, built by Sulaymān ibn ‘Abd al-Malik b. Marwān on the island at Fustāt-Misr, was out of order.  He then sent an Iraqi geometrician, chosen by Muhammad ibn Mūsa the astrologer, who went to Egypt where Yazīd ibn ‘Abd Allah b. Nādān b. Farah was responsible for providing all forms of assistance, and where Sulaymān ibn Wahb was in charge of collecting taxes, and he made a nilometer at Gizat-Misr in Year 245.  It was called “al-Miqyās al-ğadid” [= the new hydrometer] because the old one was out of order.  Al-Mutawakkil built a city called “al-Ga’fariyyah”.  He withdrew his favour from the physician Bukhtishū’, and sent letters to all countries, ordering that Christians should wear clothes of the same pattern and with patches, as well as surcoats with a front and back flap, that they were prohibited from riding horses, carrying ropes on their saddles, or using wooden brackets, and that the images of the devils should be drawn on their doors. (In another text it says “pigs and monkeys”). This order brought serious harm, pain and concern upon the Christians.

3. Michael, son of Theophilus, king of the Rūm, died.  After him there was made king over Rūm his son Theophilus.  He removed the images from the churches, sanded down the bas-reliefs and broke the statues, and ordered that there were to be no more images in the churches.  The reason that caused him to take the images away from the churches was this.  One of his ministers told him that, in a certain place in Byzantine territory, there was a church dedicated to the Blessed Mary, in which a picture was worshiped, from whose breast a drop of milk came out on her feast day.  King Theophilus found this a strange thing and made inquiries.  It was then discovered that the clerk of the church had made a hole in the wall behind the image, at the height of the breast of the image, and had inserted a thin tube of lead.  He then covered the place with clay and lime so that it could not be seen.  When then the day of the feast of the Blessed Mary’ came, he poured milk into that hole, and a small drop dripped from the breast of the image.  People made pilgrimage to that church, and the clerk earned much money that way.  King Theophilus therefore sent to destroy that image, to bring things back to normal, and ordered that there should be no more images in the churches.  He then ordered the execution of the clerk and took away the pictures from the churches saying, “Images are like idols: he who adores an image is like the one who adores idols.”  Then there were disputes among the Rūm about the images and they ended up accusing each other of impiety. Some said: “He who prostrates himself in front of an image is impious!” While others said, “Whoever does not prostrate himself in front of the image is impious!” The news came to Sophronius, patriarch of Alexandria, who wrote a long sermon in which he took up the defense of the cult of images using the following argument: “God – to whom be the highest praise and holy be his name! – ordered Moses to portray the cherubim in gold on the ark of the covenant and to put it in the Temple.” And he carried on, saying: “When Solomon, son of David, built the Temple and had completed the construction, he put the golden image of the cherubim inside.” And again he said, “When the king wrote a letter to his lieutenant, and he added the seal with his ring, he [the lieutenant] said to the people, “This is the seal of the king and his letter,” did not he stand up to take the letter in his hands and kiss it and lower his head and eyes?  Certainly he stood up, and kissed the letter; not to honor the paper, or the stamp of the seal on the paper, or the ink on the letter, nor did he stand up to honour the letter of itself. No, for my life, for none of these things. It was only an act of honor that he intended to make to the king and to the king’s name, it being his [the king’s] letter.  In this sense, we must kiss this image and worship it, because it is not for us to kiss and venerate a cult made to idols.^[1] It is for us a pure and simple act of honor and veneration, made in the name of that martyr depicted in that image and in that particular way.”  Then he sent what he had written to King Theophilus.  The king welcomed it, rejoiced and refused to forbid the worship of images, as he had done at first.  Among those who defended the cult of the images was Abū Qurra, who wrote in this regard a treatise that he called “Mayāmir as-Suğūd li’s-suwar” [= “Sermons on the Cult of Images”].

4. Sophronius, patriarch of Alexandria, died of dropsy- he had not been able to drink mandrake juice – in the year 233 of the Hegira.  After him there was made patriarch of Alexandria Michael.  He held the office for twenty-four years.  He belonged to the Bukām family and came from the town of Būrah.  The caliphate of al-Mutawakkil lasted fourteen years, nine months and nine days.  In the tenth year of the caliphate of al-Mutawakkil, there was made patriarch of Jerusalem Salmūn, son of Zarqūn.  He held the office for five years and died.

5. Al-Mutawakkil died in his palace, in the city he had built and called “al-Ga’fariyyah”.  His murder took place on the night of 3 March of the month of Shawwāl of the year 247. He was forty-four.  He was buried at “al-Ga’fariyyah”.  Al-Mutawakkil was brown, with a delicate, almost yellowish, complexion, handsome in face, and had a little beard on his cheeks, and big eyes.  The chief of his bodyguard was Ishāq ibn Ibrāhim and, on his death, Muhammad ibn Ishāq. When he [also] died, there came back from Khurāsān Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allah b. Zāhir and became chief of the guards. His huğgāb were Wasīf at-Turkī, then Sa`īd ibn Sālih and Bughā at-Turki.  His huğgāb, for the audience of the people, were Ya’qūb ibn Ibrāhim, then Qawsara and ‘Attāb ibn’ Attāb.  His influential advisers were al-Fath ibn Khāqān and the kātib ‘Ubayd Allāh ibn Yahyā b. Khāqān.

1. ^[1]Not at all sure that I have this right!  The Italian is: “In questo senso dobbiamo baciare questa immagine e venerarla, non essendo affatto il nostro baciarla e venerarla un culto reso agli idoli.”↩

CALIPHATE OF AL-WĀTHIQ (227-232/842-847)

1. The bay’ah was given to al-Wāthiq, i.e. Hārūn ibn al-Mu’tasim – his mother was a umm walad named Qarātis, on the same day that al-Mu’tasim died. He left the internal affairs as they were in the days of al-Mu’tasim, He built the palace known by the name of al-Hārūni, and moved there.  Al-Wāthiq argued that the Qur’an was created, and this theory he inculcated, until it was accepted by Ahmad ibn Abi Dāwūd and Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Malik az-Zayyāt, his minister.  Al-Wāthiq sent letters to all the provinces in which he asked [his governors] to induce all Muslims to support the creation of the Koran by writing to the mosques.  But the Muslims considered that such a proposal was insolent and oppressive, and they vigorously refused to accept it.  All those who rejected this claim, or who did not approve, or who did not support it, were flogged, imprisoned or killed.  His caliphate lasted five years, seven months and thirteen days.

2. Theophilus, king of the Rūm, died.  After him Michael, son of Theophilus, was made king.  In the second year of the caliphate of al-Wāthiq, there was made patriarch of Jerusalem Sergius, son of that Mansūr who had helped the Muslims to conquer Damascus and had been hit by anathema everywhere in the world.  He held the office for sixteen years and died.  In the sixth year of his caliphate there was made patriarch of Antioch Nicholas.  He held the office for twenty-three years and died.

3. Al-Wāthiq died on Wednesday, six days before the end of the month of Dhū’l-hiğğa of the year 232, at the age of thirty-four.  Al-Wāthiq was of medium stature, fair in body, and had a wide chest, a thick beard and a bit of white in the eye. The chief of his bodyguard was Ishāq ibn Ibrāhim and his huğğāb were the freedman Itāh at-Turkī, the freedman Bughā at-Turkī, the freedman Wasif at-Turkī, Muhammad ibn Hammād b. Danqash and Muhammad ibn ‘Āsim al-Gabalī. His huğgāb for the audience of the people were also Ya’qūb ibn Ibrāhim, Qawsara  and Attāb ibn ‘Attāb.  His influential advisers were Ahmad ibn Abi Dāwūd and Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allah al-Malik az-Zayyāt.

CALIPHATE OF AL-MUTASIM (218-227/833-842).

1. The bay’ah was given to al-Mu`tasim, i.e. Abū Ishāq Muhammad b. Hārūm ar-Rashid – his mother was a “umm walad” named Māridah – at Tarsus.  But some of al-Ma’mūn’s generals advocated appointing al-‘Abbās, son of al-Ma’mūn, as caliph, and in fact acknowledged al-‘Abbās ibn al-Ma’mūn as their caliph.  All the other generals recognized al-Mu’tasim as their caliph.  The news of his appointment came to Baghdad where the bay’ah was given to him by Abū Ishāq Ibrāhim b. al-Husayn b. Mus’ab – who was then in Baghdad -, the Hāshemites and the various generals who were in the city. The bay’ah was also given by ‘Abd Allah ibn Zāhir in Khurāsān and he summoned al-Mu’tasim.  Al-Mu’tasim went to Baghdad at the beginning of the month of Ramadan of year 218 and remained there until 222.  Then he moved on Surramanra’à, surrounded it with a wall and camped there with his soldiers.  He sent Afshin Kindarā ibn Kāwus to fight against Tābak al-Gurrami, who occupied the city and imprisoned him together with his men.  The conquest took place in the month of Ramadan of the year 222.  He sent Uğayf ibn ‘Anbasa against the Zutt who lived in Batā’ih, took them prisoners and carried them off with him.  Al-Māziyār had revolted with the army of Tabaristan.  ‘Abd Allah ibn Zāhir sent [against him] his uncle al-Hasan ibn al-Husayn who made him prisoner and brought him to al-Mu’tasim.

2. Then al-Mu’tasim entered the territory of the Rūm, with the intention of invading, taking with him the Patriarch of Antioch Job, and besieging the city of Ankara.  The patriarch Job spoke in Greek to the Rūm saying to them: “Make submission to the Sultan and pay the poll tax. It is better to do this than to be killed or taken prisoner.” The Rūm rejected him and threw stones at him.  Then al-Mu’tasim captured Ankara and burned it.  Then he went on ‘Ammūriyyah and besieged it for a month (In another text it says “for months”).  Every day the patriarch of Antioch Job went to the citadel alone and spoke to the Rūm in Greek, trying to play on their fear and persuade them to pay the poll tax, so that al-Mu’tasim would leave them in peace.  But the Rūm covered him with insults and pelted him with dirt.  They continued until al-Mu’tasim captured ‘Ammūriyyah: many were killed and many others were taken prisoners.  This was in the month of Ramadan of the year 223.  After having captured ‘Ammūriyyah, al-Mu’tasim started his way back.  During his absence, al-‘Abbās ibn al-Ma’mūn died.  Al-Mu’tasim gave his property to al-Afshin in the year 225.

3. Constantine, king of the Rūm, died.  After him there reigned over Rūm Theophilus.  In the fourth year of al-Mu’tasim’s caliphate there became patriarch of Alexandria Sophronius.  He held the office for thirteen years.  He was a philosopher and a wise man.  In the seventh year of the caliphate of al-Mu’tasim, John was patriarch of Jerusalem; but the inhabitants of Jerusalem spoke so much ill of him that, frightened, he wrote a letter, under duress, in which he renounced the office.

4. Al-Mu’tasim died in the month of Rabī ‘al-awwal of the year 227.  His caliphate lasted eight years and eight months.  He died at the age of forty-eight and was buried at Surramanra’à al-Ğawsaq.  Al-Mu’tasim was fair of body and face, with a wide chest, strong body, and a long beard with no white hair.  The chief of his bodyguard was Ishāq ibn Ibrāhim.  His huggab, for the audience of the nobility, were the freedman Simā at-Turkī, the freedman Wasif at-Turki and Bughā at-Turki.  His huğgāb for the audience of the people were Muhammad ibn ‘Āsim al-Hanaki, Ya’qūb ibn Ibrāhim, ‘Attāb ibn ‘Attāb and Muhammad ibn Hammād b. Danqash.  His influential advisers were the supreme “qadi”, Ahmad ibn Abi Dāwūd and the secretary Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Malik az-Zayyāt.