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Al-Mutawakkil
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Al-Mutawakkil ˤAlā Allāh Jaˤfar ibn al-Muˤtasim (Arabic المتوكل على الله جعفر بن المعتصم; March 821 – December 861) was an Abbasid caliph who reigned in Samarra from 847 until 861. He succeeded his brother al-Wāthiq and is known for putting an end to the Mihna "ordeal", the Inquisition-like attempt by his predecessors to impose a single orthodox version of Islām.
While al-Wathiq was caliph, his vazier, Muhammad ibn Abd al-Malik, had poorly treated al-Mutawakkil. On September 22, 847, al-Mutawakkil had him arrested. The former vizier's property was plundered and he was tortured in his own iron maiden. He finally died on November 2nd. The caliph had others who had mistreated him in the previous reign punished.
In A.H. 235 (849) al-Mutawakkil had the prominent military commander Itakh al-Khazari seized in Baghdad. Itakh was imprisoned and died of thirst on December 21st. One Mahmud ibn al-Faraj al-Naysaburi arose claiming to be a prophet. He and some followers were arrested in Baghdad. He was imprisoned, beaten and on June 18, 850 he died.
In A.H. 237 (851-852) Armenians rebelled and defeated and killed the Abbasid governor. Al-Mutawakkil sent his general Bugha to handle this. Bugha scored successes this year and the following year he attacked and burned Tiflis, capturing Ishaq ibn Isma'il. The rebel leader was executed. That year (A.H. 238) Byzantines attacked Damietta.
In A.H. 240 (854-855) the police chief in Hims killed a prominent person stirring an uprising. He was driven out. Al-Mutawakkil offered another police chief. When the next year saw a revolt against this new police chief, al-Mutawakkil had this firmly suppressed. As Christians had joined in the second round of disturbances, the caliph had Christians expelled from Hims.
Also in 241 occurred the firm response to the revolt by the Bujah, a black people just beyond Upper Egypt. They had been paying a tax on their gold mines. They ceased paying this, drove out Muslims working in the mines and terrified people in Upper Egypt. Al-Mutawakkil sent al-Qummi to restore order. Al-Qummi sent seven ships with supplies that enabled him to persevere despite the very harsh terrain of this distant territory. He retook the mines, pressed on to the Bujah royal stronghold and defeated the king in battle. The Bujah resumed payment of the tax.
On February 23, 856, there was an exchange of captives with the Byzantines. A second such exchange took place some four years later.
Al-Mutawakkil was unlike his brother and father in that he was not known for having a thirst for knowledge, but he had an eye for magnificence and a hunger to build. The Great Mosque of Samarra was at its time, the largest mosque in the world; its minaret is a vast spiralling cone 55 m high with a spiral ramp. The mosque had 17 aisles and its wall were panelled with mosaics of dark blue glass.
The Great Mosque was just part of an extension of Samarra eastwards that built upon part of the walled royal hunting park inherited from the Sassanians. Al-Mutawakkil built as many as 20 palaces (the numbers vary in documents). Samarra became one of the largest cities of the ancient world; even the archaeological site of its ruins is one of the world's most extensive.
The Caliph's building schemes extended in A.H. 245 (859-860) to a new city, al-Jaˤfariyya, which al-Mutawakkil built on the Tigris some eighteen kilometres from Samarra. More water, and al-Mutawakkil ordered a canal to be built to divert water from the Tigris, entrusting the project to two courtiers, who ignored the talents of a local engineer of repute and entrusted the work to al-Farghanī, the great astronomer and writer. Al-Farghanī, who was not a specialist in public works, made a miscalculation and it appeared that the opening of the canal was too deep so that water from the river would only flow at near full flood.
News leaked to the infuriated caliph might have meant the heads of all concerned save for the gracious actions of the engineer, Sind ibn ˤAlī, who vouched for the eventual success of the project, thus risking his own life. Al-Mutawakkil was assassinated shortly before the error became public.
Al-Mutawakkil was keen to involve himself in many religious debates, something that would show in his actions against different minorities. His father had tolerated the Shīˤa Imām who taught and preached at Medina, and for the first years of his reign al-Mutawakkil continued the policy. Imām ˤAlī al-Hadī's growing reputation inspired a letter from the Governor of Medina, ˤAbdu l-Lāh ibn Muħammad, suggesting that a coup was being plotted, and al-Mutawakkil extended an invitation to Samarra to the Imām, an offer he could not refuse. In Samarra, the Imām was kept under virtuial house arrest and spied upon. However, no excuse to take action against him ever appeared. After al-Mutawakkil's death, his successor had the Imām poisoned: al-Hadī is buried at Samarra. The general Shīˤa population faced repression. and this was embodied in the destruction of the shrine of Hussayn ibn ˤAlī, an action that was carried out obstensibly in order to stop pilgrimages to that site. [1]
During his reign, the influence of the Muˤtaziliyya was reversed and questions about over the divinity of the Qur'an were ended. This resulted from the caliph's personal devotion to studying as-Sunna.
Also during his reign, Al-Mutawakkil met the famous Byzantine theologian Constantine the Philosopher, who was sent to tighten the diplomatic relations between the Empire and the Caliphate in a state mission by the Emperor Michael III.
Unlike his predecessors, Al-Mutawakkil applied a discriminatory policy toward minority groups like the Assyrian Christians and Jews. In a decree of 850, the caliph ordered that these Ahlu dh-Dhimma (أهل الذمة) or "Protected Peoples" be made to wear various specific identifying marks and honey-colored robes and even to make their slaves immediately identifiable in the marketplaces.
These decrees also forced the destruction of all churches and synagogues built since Islam was established and confiscated one out of every ten Christian or Jewish homes with the stipulation that, where suitable, mosques should occupy the sites or that the sites should be left open. The doors of remaining buildings were to be identified by wooden images of devils that were to be nailed to them.
The decree also stipulated that Jewish and Christian graves should be flat against the ground, which would identify them as non-Muslim ones. Al-Mutawakkil barred Jews and Christians from ruling over Muslims, thus effectively removing them from government service, and limited their schooling to that which was taught by Jews and Christians, forbidding Muslims from teaching them.
The aggregate of these rulings can very plausibly be interpreted as a means of identifying "infidels", their women and even their slaves, the doorways of their houses, and their graves, in order to expose them to the wrath of the mob.
Despite these actions, al-Mutawakkil's reign is remembered for its many reforms and viewed as a golden age of the Abbasids. He would be the last great Abbasid caliph; after his death the dynasty would fall into a decline.
Al-Mutawakkil continued to rely on Turkish statesmen and slave soldiers to put down rebellions and lead battles against foreign empires, notably the Byzantines, from who Sicily was captured. His vezir, Al-fath bin Khaqan, who was Turkish, was a famous figure of Al-Mutawakkil's era.
His reliance on Turkish soldiers would come back to haunt him. Al-Mutawakkil would have his Turkish commander-in-chief killed. This, coupled with his extreme attitudes towards the Shīˤa, made his popularity decline rapidly.
Al-Mutawakkil was murdered by a Turkish soldier on December 11, 861 CE. Some have speculated that his murder was part of a plot hatched by his son, al-Muntasir, who had grown estranged from his father. Al-Muntasir feared his father was about to move against him and struck first.
Al-Mutawakkil is said to have been slender, with a light tan complexion, a sparse beard and attractive eyes.
Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari History v. 34 "Incipient Decline," transl. Joel L. Kraemer, SUNY, Albany, 1989
- Imam Haadi and Al-Mutawakkil
- The great mosque at Samarra
- al-Mutawakkil's decree of 850 (English)
- al-Farghani and the canal
| Preceded by al-Wathiq |
Caliph 847–861 |
Succeeded by al-Muntasir |