Tarikh (al-Tabari) 3635
Reports of the Qarmatians in Syria
خِلَافَةِ الْمُكْتَفِي بِاللَّهِ [289 - 295 هـ ] وَاسْمُهُ عَلِيُّ بْنُ الْمُعْتَضِدِ، وَيُكَنَّى أَبَا مُحَمَّدٍ، وُلِدَ فِي رَجَبٍ سَنَةَ أَرْبَعٍ وَسِتِّينَ وَأُمُّ الْمُكْتَفِي تُرْكِيَّةٌ لَمْ تُدْرِكْ خِلَافَتَهُ وَيُقَالُ لَهَا حَيْحَقُ. وَكَانَ رَبْعَةً جَمِيلًا، رَقِيقَ اللَّوْنِ، حَسَنَ الشَّعْرِ، وَافِرَ اللِّحْيَةِ عَرِيضَهَا وكَانَ يُضْرَبُ بِحُسْنِهِ الْمَثَلُ، حَتَّى قَالَ بَعْضُهُمْ: قَايَسْتُ بَيْنَ جَمَالِهَا وَفِعَالِهَا فَإِذَا الْمَلَاحَةُ بِالْخِيَانَةِ لَا تَفِي وَاللَّهِ لَا كَلَّمْتُهَا، وَلَوْ أَنَّهَا كَالشَّمْسِ أَوْ كَالْبَدْرِ أَوْ كَالْمُكْتَفِي وَلَمَّا تُوُفِّيَ الْمُعْتَضِدُ كَتَبَ الْوَزِيرُ إِلَى أَبِي مُحَمَّدٍ عَلِيِّ بْنِ الْمُعْتَضِدِ، وَهُوَ الْمُكْتَفِي بِاللَّهِ، يُعَرِّفُهُ بِذَلِكَ وَيَأْخُذُ الْبَيْعَةَ لَهُ، وَكَانَ بِالرَّقَّةِ. فَلَمَّا وَصَلَهُ الْخَبَرُ أَخَذَ الْبَيْعَةَ عَلَى مَنْ عِنْدَهُ مِنَ الْأَجْنَادِ، وَوَضَعَ لَهُمُ الْعَطَاءَ، وَسَارَ إِلَى بَغْدَاذَ، وَوَجَّهَ إِلَى النَّوَاحِي مِنْ دِيَارِ رَبِيعَةَ. وَمُضَرَ، وَنَوَاحِي الْعَرَبِ مَنْ يَحْفَظُهَا، وَدَخَلَ بَغْدَاذَ، لِثَمَانٍ خَلَوْنَ مِنْ جُمَادَى الْأُولَى، فَلَمَّا سَارَ إِلَى مَنْزِلِهِ أَمَرَ بِهَدْمِ الْمَطَامِيرِ الَّتِي كَانَ أَبُوهُ اتَّخَذَهَا لِأَهْلِ الْجَرَائِمِ. وَأَمَرَ بِبِنَاءِ جَامِعٍ مَكَانَهَا، وَكَانَ سِنُّ الْمُكْتَفِي يَوْمَ بُويِعَ لَهُ خَمْسًا وَعِشْرِينَ سَنَةً وَعِشْرِينَ يَوْمًا وَلَيْسَ فِي الْخُلَفَاءِ مَنِ اسْمُهُ عَلِيٌّ سِوَى هَذَا وَعَلِيِّ بْنِ أَبِي طَالِبٍ وَلَيْسَ فِيهِمْ مَنْ يُكَنَّى بِأَبِي مُحَمَّدٍ إِلَّا هَذَا، وَالْحَسَنُ بْنُ عَلِيِّ بْنِ أَبِي طَالِبٍ وَالْهَادِي وَالْمُسْتَضِيءُ بِأَمْرِ بِاللَّهِ. وَحِينَ وَلِيَ الْمُكْتَفِي كَثُرَتِ الْفِتَنُ وَانْتَشَرَتْ فِي الْبِلَادِ وَخَلَعَ فِي هَذَا الْيَوْمِ عَلَى الْوَزِيرِ الْقَاسِمِ بْنِ عُبَيْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ سُلَيْمَانَ بْنِ وَهْبٍ سِتَّ خِلَعٍ وَقَلَّدَهُ سَيْفًا. وَهَنَّأَهُ رَجُلٌ فَقَالَ: أَجَلُ الرَّزَايَا أَنْ يَمُوتَ إِمَامٌ وَأَسْنَى الْعَطَايَا أَنْ يَقُومَ إِمَامُ فَأَسْقِي الَّذِي مَاتَ الْغَمَامُ وَجَادَهُ وَدَامَتْ تَحِيَّاتٌ لَهُ وَسَلَامُ وَأَبْقَى الَّذِي قَامَ الْإِلَهُ وَزَادَهُ مَوَاهِبَ لَا يَفْنَى لَهُنَّ دَوَامُ وَتَمَّتْ لَهُ الْآمَالُ وَاتَّصَلَتْ بِهَا فَوَائِدُ مَوْصُولٌ بِهِنَّ تَمَامُ هُوَ الْمُكْتَفِي بِاللَّهِ يَكْفِيهِ كُلُّ مَا عَنَاهُ بِرُكْنٍ مِنْهُ لَيْسَ يُرَامُ وَكَانَ الْمُكْتَفِي يَقُولُ الشِّعْرَ، قَالَ الصُّولِيُّ: أَنْشَدَنَا لِنَفْسِهِ: إِنَّى كَلِفْتُ فَلَا تُلِحُّوا بِجَارِيَةٍ كَأَنَّهَا الشَّمْسُ بَلْ زَادَتْ عَلَى الشَّمْسِ لَهَا مِنَ الْحُسْنِ أَعْلَاهُ فَرُؤْيَتُهَا سَعْدِي وَغَيْبَتُهَا عَنْ مَقْتَلِي نَحْسِي وَمِنْ شَعْرِهِ: مَنْ لِي بِأَنْ يَعْلَمَ مَا أَلْقَى فَيَعْرِفُ الصَّبْوَةَ وَالْعِشْقَا مَا زَالَ عَبْدًا لِي وَحُبِّي لَهُ صَيَّرَنِي عَبْدًا لَهُ حَقًّا أُعْتِقَ مِنْ رِقِّي وَلَكِنَّنِي مِنْ حُبِّهِ لَا أَمْلِكُ الْعِتْقَا
Translation
✧ The Caliphate of al-Muktafī bi-llāh [289–295 AH]. His name was ʿAlī b. al-Muʿtaḍid, and his kunya was Abū Muḥammad. He was born in Rajab of the year sixty-four, and the mother of al-Muktafī was a Turkish woman who did not live to see his caliphate, and she was called Ḥayḥaq. He was of medium height, handsome, fair-complexioned, with beautiful hair and a full, wide beard. His beauty was proverbial, so much so that one of them said: I compared her beauty with her deeds, and behold, loveliness does not suffice with treachery. By God, I would not speak to her, even if she were like the sun, or like the full moon, or like al-Muktafī. When al-Muʿtaḍid died, the vizier wrote to Abū Muḥammad ʿAlī b. al-Muʿtaḍid, who was al-Muktafī bi-llāh, informing him of that and taking the oath of allegiance for him, and he was at al-Raqqa. When the news reached him, he took the oath of allegiance from the troops who were with him, assigned them their stipends, and set out for Baghdādh. He dispatched men to the districts of Diyār Rabīʿa, Muḍar, and the Arab regions to guard them, and he entered Baghdādh on the eighth of Jumādā al-Ūlā. When he went to his residence, he ordered the demolition of the dungeons that his father had built for criminals, and he ordered the construction of a mosque in their place. Al-Muktafī's age on the day he was given allegiance was twenty-five years and twenty days. Among the caliphs there is none named ʿAlī except this one and ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, and among them none is given the kunya Abū Muḥammad except this one, al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, al-Hādī, and al-Mustaḍīʾ bi-amr Allāh. When al-Muktafī assumed power, turmoil increased and spread throughout the lands. On that day he bestowed six robes of honor upon the vizier al-Qāsim b. ʿUbayd Allāh b. Sulaymān b. Wahb and girded him with a sword. A man congratulated him, saying: The greatest of calamities is that an imam dies, and the most exalted of gifts is that an imam rises. May the clouds water the one who died and shower him generously, and may greetings and peace endure for him. May God preserve the one who has risen and increase him in gifts whose permanence never perishes. May his hopes be fulfilled, and may benefits connected to them continue, with completion attached to them. He is al-Muktafī bi-llāh; everything that concerns him is sufficed by a pillar of his that cannot be assailed. Al-Muktafī used to compose poetry. Al-Ṣūlī said: He recited to us from his own composition: I am smitten, so do not persist with a slave-girl who is like the sun—nay, she surpasses the sun. She has the highest of beauty; seeing her is my good fortune, and her absence from my meeting is my ill fortune. And from his poetry: Who can help me know what I suffer, so that he may know passion and love? He remained a slave to me, yet my love for him has truly made me a slave to him. He was freed from my bondage, but because of my love for him, I cannot possess freedom.
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