Ar-Radi

Who was Ar-Radi?

Abu 'l-Abbas Muhammad ibn Ja'far al-Muqtadir, usually simply known by his regnal name al-Radi bi-llah, was the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad from 934 to his death at the age of thirty-three in 940.

The seven years' reign of ar-Radi, son of al-Muqtadir, was but a succession of misfortune. Praised for his piety, he became the mere tool of the chief minister of the day. The authority of the Caliph extended hardly beyond the region of the city. After one Vazir had been imprisoned by his enemies, and another had defected in disgrace, ar-Radi, being without resources, fell into the hands of an able but cruel, de facto ruling Minister, Ibn Raik, for whom he created the post of amir al-umara 'Amir of the Amirs', who held so absolutely the reins of government that his name was conjoined with the Caliph's in the public prayers.

Around this period, the Hanbalis, supported by popular sentiment, carried things with a high hand. Forcing their way into private dwellings, they overthrew everything not in strict conformity with their tenets, emptied vessels of wine wherever found, broke in pieces musical instruments, pried into the details of trade and commerce, and set up in fact a kind of 'Sunni inquisition'. Thus a professor of the Shi'a creed was killed for performing pilgrimage. A famous doctor also was badly handled for affirming some various readings of the Qur'an, of no apparent moment in themselves; and, notwithstanding that he submitted written recantation, had to fly Baghdad for fear of death.