The Death of Caliph al-Mustazhir Billāh

Al-Mustazhir Billāh Abū'l-ʿAbbās Aḥmad b. Muktaḍī. He was a virtuous, noble, intelligent, and high-charactered person. He wrote beautiful calligraphy. In Baghdad during his time, every day was like a festival. He showed eagerness towards goodness and virtue and acted quickly in these matters. He never turned away anyone who asked something from him. His livelihood was good. He did not listen to the words of informers and did not trust the corrupt people who came and went around him. He had firmly established the authority of the caliphate. His sovereignty was strong and based on knowledge. He was very knowledgeable. He wrote beautiful poetry. We have recounted these matters when speaking of his caliphate. When he died, Ibn Ukayl and Ibn Sunnī washed his body. His son Abū al-Manṣūr al-Faḍl led the funeral prayer with four takbīrs. Caliph al-Mustazhir was buried in the cell where he used to sit. It is a strange coincidence that when Sultan Alp Arslan died, the caliph after him, al-Qāʾim, had also died. Then when Sultan Malikshāh died, the caliph after him, Muktaḍī, had died. Then when Sultan Muḥammad died, the caliph after him, al-Mustazhir Billāh, died on the sixteenth of Rabiʿ al-Ākhir of that year at the age of forty-one. At the time of his death, he was forty-two years, three months, and eleven days old.