Al-Mustakfi

al-Mustakfī bi’llāh المستكفي بالله
Commander of the Faithful
Silver dirham of al-Mustakfi, 945
22nd Caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate
Reign	September 944 – 29 January (or 9 March) 946
Predecessor	al-Muttaqi
Successor	al-Muti'
Born	11 November 908 Baghdad, Abbasid Caliphate
Died	September 949 Baghdad, Buyid emirate of Iraq
Issue	Muhammad ibn al-Mustakfi
Names Abu’l-Qāsim ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn Ṭalḥa ibn Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad ibn Hārūn al-Mustakfī bi’llāh
Dynasty	Abbasid
Father	al-Muktafi
Mother	Ghusn
Religion	Sunni Islam

Abu al-Qasim Abd Allah ibn Ali^[a] (11 November 908 – September/October 949), commonly known by his regnal name al-Mustakfi,^[b] was the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad from 944 to 946.^[1]

Al-Mustakfi was a younger son of Caliph al-Muktafi, and hence a rival to the line of Caliph al-Muqtadir that reigned in 908–944, a period during which the Abbasid Caliphate nearly collapsed, and caliphs became puppets at the hands of rival warlords. Al-Mustakfi himself was installed on the throne by Tuzun, a Turkish general who deposed and blinded the previous caliph, al-Muttaqi. In the power vacuum left after Tuzun's death in August 945, al-Mustakfi tried to regain some of his freedom of action, initiating anti-Shi'a measures, but the same vacuum allowed the Buyids to capture Baghdad. Al-Mustakfi was forced to recognize the Buyids as legitimate rulers and awarded them regnal titles, but was soon accused of plotting against them and deposed in January (or March) 946. He spent the final years of his life in prison. His son attempted to claim the caliphate in c. 968, but failed.

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