The Chaliphate - Muir - The Search For Mecca

a
536 AL-MO'TAZZ [CTTAP. T.XIX.
A.H. 247-
256.
and one of
his own
brothers.
Riots in
Bagdad and
Samarra,
252 A.H.
Al-Mo'tazz who was playing at chess,— "till I have finished
the game." And then, having satisfied himself that it
was really Al-Musta'In's head, he commanded 500 pieces to
be given to the assassin as his reward.^ Al-Mu'ciyad, his
own brother, being next heir to the throne, was also cruelly
put to death. The Turkish soldiery, in a brawl with the
Westerns, had taken this brother's part, and the jealous
Caliph forthwith cast him, and also another brother, .Abu
Ahmed, who had bravely led the troops in the late struggle
on his side, into prison. There the Turks attempted
Al-Mu'eiyad's release, and Al-Mo'tazz, the more alarmed,
resolved on his death. He was smothered in a downy robe
(or, as others say, frozen in a bed of ice) ; and the body
was then exposed before the Court and Kadis, as if, being
without mark of violence, he had died a natural death :—
transparent subterfuge.
Bogha and Waslf, instead of promised preferments,
were cut off altogether from the civil list ; orders were also
issued for their assassination ;
but, at the intercession of a
Princess at court related to them, their lives were spared.
They returned with their families to Samarra
;
and Bogha,
in the strange vicissitudes of the day, became soon after
the prime favourite of the Caliph. Riot succeeded riot,
both at Samarra and Bagdad. The revenues were
squandered at the profligate Court, and little left wherewith
to pay the troops. The city guards at the Capital
surrounded .the palace at Bagdad, clamorous for their pa}-.
The Governor wrote to Al-Mo'tazz for an advance ; but he,
prompted by the Turks, replied that "if the guards were
needed for himself, he himself might pay them
;
if for the
Caliph, he cared not for them." Thereupon the tumult was
renewed
;
the mob refused to let the Caliph be named in the
Mosque, and so there were no prayers observed that Frida\-.
Before the insurrection was put down, the Governor had
to burn one of the bridges, and set fire to an adjoining
bazaar, in order to keep the rebels off. Nor were the
outbreaks at Samarra less outrageous. The Turks fell
out with the Westerns, and fought till it was arranged that
'
So according to IImi al-Athlr. Other authorities are not so clear as
to the connivance of Ahmed, founder of the Tiihlnid
598.
dvnastv.— Weil, ii.