Abu'l-Hasan Muhammad ibn al-Mustakfi ( ar, أبو الحسن محمد بن المستكفي) was a son of the

Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...

caliph

al-Mustakfi Abu’l-Qāsim ʿAbdallāh ibn Ali ( ar, أبو القاسم عبد الله بن علي; 908 – September/October 949), better known by his regnal name al-Mustakfī bi’llāh ( ar, المستكفي بالله, , Desirous of Being Satisfied wit ...

(). He was designated as his father's heir, and a few coins were minted at

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...

with his name before his father was overthrown by the

Buyids The Buyid dynasty ( fa, آل بویه, Āl-e Būya), also spelled Buwayhid ( ar, البويهية, Al-Buwayhiyyah), was a Shia Iranian dynasty of Daylamite origin, which mainly ruled over Iraq and central and southern Iran from 934 to 1062. Coup ...

in early 946. Muhammad fled to the

Ikhshidid The Ikhshidid dynasty (, ) was a Turkic mamluk dynasty who ruled Egypt and the Levant from 935 to 969. Muhammad ibn Tughj al-Ikhshid, a Turkic mamluk soldier, was appointed governor by the Abbasid Caliph al-Radi. The dynasty carried the Arabic t ...

court in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

, from where he launched a covert propaganda effort against the Buyids and the caliph installed by them,

al-Muti Abū ʾl-Qāsim al-Faḍl ibn al-Muqtadir ( ar, أبو القاسم الفضل بن المقتدر; 913/14 – September/October 974), better known by his regnal name of al-Mutīʿ li-ʾllāh ( ar, المطيع لله, , Obedient to God), was the ...

. In this he obscured his real identity, assuming the mantle of the

Mahdi The Mahdi ( ar, ٱلْمَهْدِيّ, al-Mahdī, lit=the Guided) is a messianic figure in Islamic eschatology who is believed to appear at the end of times to rid the world of evil and injustice. He is said to be a descendant of Muhammad w ...

, the expected Islamic messiah, and his messages were apparently well received by both Sunnis and

Shia Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, mo ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

, including in Baghdad itself. These efforts were intensified after the death of the Buyid conqueror of Baghdad,

Mu'izz al-Dawla Ahmad ibn Buya ( Persian: احمد بن بویه, died April 8, 967), after 945 better known by his ''laqab'' of Mu'izz al-Dawla ( ar, المعز الدولة البويهي, "Fortifier of the Dynasty"), was the first of the Buyid emirs of Iraq ...

, in 967. His chief convert was none other than the Buyid commander of Baghdad, the Turk Sübüktegin al-Ajami, who invited him into the city, gave him protection and was preparing to mount a coup in his name, before his identity was uncovered and he was handed over to al-Muti. The Caliph did not severely punish him, other than ordering his nose cut off, thereby disqualifying him from the succession; Muhammad eventually managed to escape, but his hopes of seizing the throne were never realized.

References

Sources

* {{cite book , last = Busse , first = Heribert , title = Chalif und Grosskönig - Die Buyiden im Irak (945-1055) , trans-title = Caliph and Great King - The Buyids in Iraq (945-1055) , language = German , origyear = 1969 , year = 2004 , location = Würzburg , publisher = Ergon Verlag , isbn = 3-89913-005-7 10th-century births 10th-century deaths 10th-century people from the Abbasid Caliphate Prisoners and detainees of the Abbasid Caliphate Sons of Abbasid caliphs Heirs apparent who never acceded Self-declared mahdi