Al-Muntasir

Abu Ja'far Muḥammad ibn Ja'far ibn Muḥammad ibn Hārūn al-Muntasir biʾLlāh (Arabic: أبو جعفر محمد; November 837 – 7 June 862), better known by his regnal title al-Muntasir biʾLlāh (المنتصر بالله, "He who triumphs in God") was the caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate from 861 to 862, during the "Anarchy at Samarra". The power struggle between al-Muntasir and his brother, al-Mu'tazz, backed by different factions, climaxed with the Turkic leaders plotting the murder of his father al-Mutawakkil. Following the assassination in 861, al-Muntasir assumed the caliphate with Turkic support.

His reign, only lasted six months, saw a shift in policies, including a more favorable stance towards the House of ʻAlī and the lifting of the ban on pilgrimage to the tombs of Hassan and Hussayn. Al-Muntasir engaged in military actions against the Byzantines, led by his general Wasif al-Turki, but his sudden death in June 862 resulted in a change of leadership, and al-Musta'in succeeded him as caliph. The military campaign continued briefly, with Wasif achieving success before returning to Samarra due to the change in government.

Al-Muntasir was the eldest son of Abu al-Fadl Ja'far (future Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil). At the time of his birth, his father was fourteen years old. His given name was Muhammad. Al-Muntasir's mother was Hubshiya, a Greek slave.

In 849, al-Mutawakkil arranged for his succession, by appointing three of his sons as heirs and assigning them the governance and proceeds of the Empire's provinces: the eldest, al-Muntasir, was named first heir, and received the governorship of Egypt, the Jazira, and the proceeds of the rents in the capital, Samarra; al-Mu'tazz was charged with supervising the domains of the governor in the Khorasan; and al-Mu'ayyad was placed in charge of Syria.

Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari records that in 236 AH (850–851) al-Muntasir led a pilgrimage. The previous year al-Mutawakkil had named his three sons as heirs and seemed to favor al-Muntasir. However, afterward, this seemed to change and al-Muntasir feared his father was going to move against him. So, he decided to strike first. Al-Mutawakkil was killed by a Turkish soldier on Wednesday 10 December 861.

Al-Mutawakkil had appointed his oldest son, al-Muntasir, as his heir in 849/50, but slowly had shifted his favor to his second son, al-Mu'tazz, encouraged by al-Fath ibn Khaqan and the vizier Ubayd Allah ibn Yahya ibn Khaqan. This rivalry extended into the political sphere, as al-Mu'tazz's succession appears to have been backed by the traditional Abbasid elites as well, while al-Muntasir was backed by the Turkic and Maghariba guard troops. In late autumn 861, matters came to a head: in October, al-Mutawakkil ordered the estates of the Turkic general Wasif to be confiscated and handed over to al-Fath. Feeling backed into a corner, the Turkic leadership began a plot to assassinate the Caliph. They were soon joined, or at least had the tacit approval, of al-Muntasir, who smarted from a succession of humiliations: on 5 December, on the recommendation of al-Fath and Ubayd Allah, he was bypassed in favor of al-Mu'tazz for leading the Friday prayer at the end of Ramadan, while three days later, when al-Mutawakkil was feeling ill and chose al-Muntasir to represent him on the prayer, once again Ubayd Allah intervened and persuaded the Caliph to go in person. Even worse, according to the historian al-Tabari, on the next day, al-Mutawakkil alternately vilified and threatened to kill his eldest son, and even had al-Fath slap him on the face. With rumors circulating that Wasif and the other Turkish leaders would be rounded up and executed on 12 December, the conspirators decided to act.

According to al-Tabari, a story later circulated that al-Fath and Ubayd Allah were forewarned of the plot by a Turkic woman, but had disregarded it, confident that no one would dare carry it out. On the night of 10/11 December, about one hour after midnight, the Turks burst in the chamber where the caliph and al-Fath were having supper. Al-Fath was killed trying to protect the Caliph, who was killed next. Al-Muntasir, who now assumed the caliphate, initially claimed that al-Fath had murdered his father and that he had been killed after; within a short time, however, the official story changed to al-Mutawakkil choking on his drink.

On the same day as the assassination, al-Muntasir succeeded smoothly to the throne of the Caliphate with the support of the Turkic faction. The Turkic party then prevailed on al-Muntasir to remove his brothers from the succession, fearing they would seek revenge for his involvement in the murder of their father. In their place, he was to appoint his son as heir apparent. On 27 April 862, both brothers wrote statements of abdication, although al-Mu'tazz did so after some hesitation.