The Chaliphate - Muir - The Search For Mecca

538 AT.-MOTAZZ [riiAP. T.xix.
A.n. 247- validate his claim sought the grant of its government from
l^_^ the court of Bagdad. 'All, the governor of Fars, who also
aimed at independence, made the like request. Al-Mo'tazz
conferred the title at once on the one and on the other,
hoping by the contest that must ensue to weaken both ;
but the Saffarid in the end prevailed. Nowhere did the
arms of Al-Mo'tazz meet success. Mosul, with the surrounding
country, was seized by Musawir, a Khariji, who held it
in rebellion for many years. In Asia Minor the Muslim
forces were beaten by the Greeks, one of the generals being
made prisoner. And even from the adjacent provinces
immediately around Bagdad, the revenue was withheld.
Military riot Little more need be said of Al-Mo'tazz. A dwindling
for arrears
revenue precipitated the end. The arm)''s pay having been
of pay
withheld, Salih son of VVa.slf, on their behalf, seized the
-
embezzled
personal secretaries of Al-Mo'tazz and of his brother, with
the ministers of departments, and demanded the mone)'
or concealed by them. There being no answer
but an empty treasury, they were put in irons. The Caliph
besought the insurgents to release his private secretary, but
they were deaf to his entreaty. The accounts of the
unfortunate ministers were seized, but neither thus nor
otherwise could anything be extracted from them. Returning
to the Caliph, they agreed that if he would but advance
50,000 pieces, they would for the present be content.
y\l-Mo'tazz, in this extremity, sent to his mother, Kabiha
(ugly), a sobriquet given her by Al-Mutawakkil for her
beauty. Her arts and influence had gained for her vast
treasures, hoarded by her in secret places. Appealed to
now, the heartless creature, clinging to her ill-gotten lucre,
Mo'tazz replied that she had nothing by her. Salih, and Musa son
seized and
gf j^ogha, HOW driven to extremities, resolved, in concert
put to
. _ . .
death, with Babkiyal, to depose Al-Mo'tazz, and carried out the
design with brutal inhumanity. Followed by a clamorous
troop, they seated themselves at the palace gate, and called
for the Caliph to come out. He had taken physic, he sent
to say as an excuse ;
and not suspecting treachery, called
them in. Entering, they beat him with clubs and kicked
him ;
then dragging him b)' his torn robes outside, the\'
left him seated there in the scorching heat of a midsummer
sun. Taken thence, he was shut up in a room