Al-Muqtadir

Who was Al-Muqtadir?

Abu 'l-Fadl Ja'far ibn Ahmad al-Mu'tadid, better known by his regnal name al-Muqtadir bi-Allah, was the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad from 908 AD to 932 AD.

After the previous Caliph, al-Muktafi, was confined for several months to his sick-bed, intrigue was made for some time as to his successor. The choice was between a younger brother of al-Muktafi's, whom the Caliph himself favored, and Abdallah, a descendant of al-Mu'tazz, who was only thirteen at the time. The vizier, hoping for more power, chose the former. The boy assumed the title of al-Muqtadir, Mighty by the help of the Lord, a sad misnomer; for even in manhood he was but a weak hedonist in the hands of women of the Court, and of their favorites. His twenty-five years reign is the constant record of his thirteen Vazirs, one rising on the fall, or on the assassination, of another.

The stand made during the last three reigns to stay downward progress at last came to an end. From now on, the Abbasid continued its decline. At the same time many names famous in the world of literature and science fall under this and the following reigns. Among the best known are: Ishaq ibn Hunain, the physician and translator of Greek philosophical works into Arabic; ibn Fadlan, the explorer; al Battani, astronomer; Tabari, historian and theologian; al-Razi, philosopher who made fundamental and lasting contributions to the fields of medicine, chemistry; al-Farabi, chemist and philosopher; Abu Nasr Mansur, mathematician; Alhazen, mathematician; al-Biruni, mathematician, astronomer, physicist; Omar Khayyám, poet, mathematician, and astronomer; Mansur Al-Hallaj a mystic, writer and teacher of Sufism most famous for his apparent, but disputed, self-proclaimed divinity, his poetry and for his execution for heresy by Caliph Al-Muqtadir.