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 conquered Damascus and other cities. Moktafi led his troops in person, and his general, Mahommed b. Suleimān, gained a signal victory. Three of their chiefs were taken and put to death. But, to avenge their defeat, they lay in wait for the great pilgrim caravan on its return from Mecca in the first days of 294 (906), and massacred 20,000 pilgrims, making an immense booty. This horrible crime raised the whole Moslem world against them. Zikrūya their chief was defeated at last and perished.

After the defeat of the Syrian Carmathians, Mahommed b. Suleimān was sent by the caliph to Egypt, where he overthrew the dominion of the Tūlūnids. ʽĪsā b. Mahommed al-Naushari was made governor in their stead (905).

The war with the Byzantines was conducted with great energy during the reign of Moktafi. In the year 905 the Greek general Andronicus took Marash, and penetrated as far as Haleb (Aleppo), but the Moslems were successful at sea, and in 907 captured Iconium, whilst Andronicus went over to the caliph’s side, so that the Byzantine emperor sent an embassy to Bagdad to ask for a truce and an exchange of prisoners.

18. Reign of Moqtadir.—The sudden death of Moktafi, Dhuʽl-qaʽda 295 (August 908), was a fatal blow to the prestige of the Caliphate, which had revived under the successive governments of Mowaffaq, Motadid and himself. The new caliph, al-Moqtadir billāh (“the powerful through God”), a brother of Moktafi, was only thirteen years of age when he ascended the throne. Owing to his extreme youth many of the leading men at Bagdad rebelled and swore allegiance to Abdallah, son of the former caliph Motazz, a man of excellent character and of great poetical gifts; but the party of the house of Motadid prevailed, and the rival caliph was put to death. Moqtadir, though not devoid of noble qualities, allowed himself to be governed by his mother and her ladies and eunuchs. He began by squandering the 15,000,000 dinars which were in the treasury when his brother died in largesses to his courtiers, who, however, merely increased their demands. His very able vizier, the noble and disinterested Ali b. ʽĪsā, tried to check this foolish expenditure, but his efforts were more than counterbalanced by the vizier Ibn abi’l-Forāt and the court. The most shameless bribery and the robbery of the well-to-do went together with the most extravagant luxury. The twenty-four years of Moqtadir’s reign are a period of rapid decay. The most important event in the reign was the foundation of the Fātimite dynasty, which reigned first in the Maghrib and then in Egypt for nearly three centuries (see and ).

Far more dangerous, however, for the Caliphate of Bagdad at the time were the Carmathians of Bahrein, then guided by Abu Ṭāhir, the son of Abu Saʽīd Jannābi. In 311 ( 923) they took and ransacked Basra; in the first month of the following year the great pilgrim caravan on its return from Mecca was overpowered; 2500 men perished, while an even larger number were made prisoners and brought to Lahsā, the residence of the Carmathian princes, together with an immense booty. The caravan which left Bagdad towards the end of this year returned in all haste before it had covered a third of the way. Then Kufa underwent the fate that had befallen Basra. In 313 ( 926) the caravan was allowed to pass on payment of a large sum of money. The government of Bagdad resolved to crush the Carmathians, but a large army was utterly defeated by Abu Ṭāhir in 315 (927), and Bagdad was seriously threatened. Next year Mecca was taken and plundered; even the sacred Black Stone was transported to Lahsā, where it remained till 339 (950), when by the express order of the Imām, the Fātimite caliph, it was restored to the Kaʽba.

In 317 (929) a conspiracy was formed to dethrone Moqtadir, to which Mūnis, the chief commander of the army, at first assented, irritated by false reports. Very soon he withdrew, and though he could not prevent the plundering of the palace, and the proclamation as caliph of another son of Motadid with the title al-Qāhir billāh (“the victorious through God”), he rescued Moqtadir and his mother, and at the same time his imprisoned friend Ali b. ʽĪsā, and brought them to his own house. A few days later, a counter-revolution took place; the leaders of the revolt were killed, and Moqtadir, against his wish, was replaced on the throne. In 320 ( 932) Mūnis, discovering a court intrigue against him, set out for Mosul, expecting that the Hamdānids, who owed to him their power, would join him. Instead of doing this, they opposed him with a numerous army, but were defeated. Mūnis took Mosul, and having received reinforcements from all parts, marched against Bagdad. The caliph, who wished nothing more than to be reconciled to his old faithful servant, was forced to take arms against him, and fell in battle Shawwāl 320 (October 932), at the age of 38 years. His reign, which lasted almost twenty-five years, was in all respects injurious to the empire.

19. Reign of Qāhir.—After the victory Mūnis acted with great moderation and proclaimed a general amnesty. His own wish was to call Abu Ahmad, a son of Moktafi, or a son of Moqtadir, to the Caliphate, but the majority of generals preferring Qāhir because he was an adult man and had no mother at his side, he acquiesced, although he had a personal dislike for him, knowing his selfish and cruel character. Qāhir was a drunkard, and derived the money for his excesses from promiscuous confiscation. He ill-treated the sons of Moqtadir and Abu Ahmad, and ultimately assassinated his patrons Mūnis and Yalbak, whose guardianship he resented. In Jomada I. 322 (April 934) he was dethroned and blinded, and died in poverty seven years later.

During the last years of Moqtadir and the reign of Qāhir a new dynasty rose. Būya, the chief of a clan of the Dailam, a warlike people who inhabit the mountainous country south-west of the Caspian Sea, had served under the Sāmānids, and found a footing in the south of Media (Jabal), whence his three sons—well known under the titles they assumed at a later period: ʽImād addaula (“prop of the dynasty”), Rokn addaula (“pillar of the dynasty”), and Moʽizz addaula (“strengthener of the dynasty”)—succeeded in subduing the province of Fārs, at the time of Qāhir’s dethronement (see ).

20. Reign of Radi.—Moqtadir’s son, who was then proclaimed caliph under the name of ar-Rādī billāh (“the content through God”), was pious and well-meaning, but inherited only the shadow of power. The vizier Ibn Moqla tried to maintain his authority at least in Irak and Mesopotamia, but without success. The treasury was exhausted, the troops asked for pay, the people in Bagdad were riotous. In this extremity the caliph bade Ibn Rāiq, who had made himself master of Basra and Wāsit, and had command of money and men, to come to his help. He created for him the office of Amīr al-Omarā, “Amir of the Amirs,” which nearly corresponds to that of Mayor of the Palace among the Franks. Thenceforth the worldly power of the Caliphate was a mere shadow. The empire was by this time practically reduced to the province of Bagdad; Khorasan and Transoxiana were in the hands of the Sāmānids, Fārs in those of the Būyids; Kirman and Media were under independent sovereigns; the Hāmdānids possessed Mesopotamia; the Sājids Armenia and Azerbaijan; the Ikshīdites Egypt; as we have seen, the Fātimites Africa, the Carmathians Arabia. The Amir al-Omarā was obliged to purchase from the latter the freedom of the pilgrimage to Mecca, at the price of a disgraceful treaty.

During the troubles of the Caliphate the Byzantines had made great advances; they had even taken Malatia and Samosata (Samsat). But the great valour of the Hamdanid prince Saif-addaula checked their march. The Greek army suffered two severe defeats and sued for peace.

21. Reign of Mottaqi.—Radi died in Rabia I. 329 (December 940). Another son of Moqtadir was then proclaimed caliph under the name of al-Mottaqī billāh (“he who guards himself by God”). At the time of his accession the Amīr al-Omarā was the Turkish general Bajkam, in whose favour Ibn Rāiq had been obliged to retire. Unfortunately Bajkam died soon after, and his death was followed by general anarchy. A certain Barīdī, who had carved out for himself a principality in the province of Basra, marched against Bagdad and made himself master of the capital, but was soon driven out by the Dailamite general