When Muktaḍir Billāh was killed, the servant Munīs intended to appoint Muktaḍir's son Abū'l-ʿAbbās to the caliphate in order to please Muktaḍir's mother. However, the assembly of nobles present dissuaded him from this intention. Abū Yaʿqūb Isḥāq b. Ismāʿīl al-Nobahtī said: "After all this effort and exertion, shall we pledge allegiance to a child who has a mother and maternal uncles, who will obey them in every matter and consult them?" After saying this, they brought Muktaḍir's brother Muḥammad b. al-Muṭadid. The judges, commanders, and viziers pledged allegiance to his caliphate. They gave him the epithet Kāhir Billāh. This event took place on a Thursday at dawn, two nights before the end of the month of Shawwāl of that year.
Kāhir Billāh appointed Abū ʿAlī b. Mukla as vizier. Then he appointed Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad b. Qāsim b. ʿAbdallāh, then Abū ʿAbbās, and then al-Ḥāṣibī as viziers. He began confiscating the property of Muktaḍir's men and imprisoning his children.
He summoned Muktaḍir's mother Sayyida to his presence, despite her having intensified labor pains due to the news that her son had been killed and was lying with his private parts exposed from the wound. Sayyida had not eaten anything for days, but after the women advised her, she ate a little salt and bread. Despite all this, Kāhir Billāh summoned Sayyida again, took her confession regarding how much property she had. The woman mentioned her jewelry, adornments, and clothes peculiar to women, but did not mention money or jewels. She refused to confess about these, saying: "If I had money and jewels, I would not even give them to my son." Kāhir Billāh ordered her to be beaten; she was beaten, hung by her feet, and subjected to severe torture. Eventually, she gave a statement that she had sold her property, and others witnessed this statement. The soldiers seized her property in lieu of the salaries they were owed. Kāhir Billāh asked her to sell her endowments (waqf), but Sayyida refused. She said she would absolutely not sell them. Then Kāhir Billāh summoned a group of Muktaḍir's children, including Abū'l-ʿAbbās, Hārūn, Abū Ṭāṣ, ʿAlī, Faḍl, and Ibrāhīm, to his presence. He ordered their properties to be confiscated and them to be imprisoned, and handed them over to his chamberlain ʿAlī b. Bulayk.
Vizier ʿAlī b. Mukla grew powerful. He appointed men to offices. He dismissed some officials, removed them from office for a while, then reinstated them. He also dismissed the postal officials (barīdīs) from their governorships.
Famous Figures Who Died in the 320th Year of the Hijra
Aḥmad b. ʿUmayr b. Jawsaʿ
His kunyah is Abū al-Ḥasan. He is from Damascus. He is among the hadith transmitters. He is one of the intelligent hadith narrators.