Episode 67: Breaking the camel’s back

Succession planning presented a sporadic problem for the caliphate. The great fitna was the last disaster spawned by ill-conceived designs, and it proved absolutely ruinous to the state. Al Mutawakkil’s arrangement was so bad that it became the first to snare the caliph himself in its chaos. As with most things about him, there’s no consensus on what happened or why. Al Mutawakkil’s reign and character are subjects of considerable disagreement, complicating any assessment of this caliph’s legacy.

Glossary

• Al Fat’h ibn Khaqan: the caliph’s lifelong best friend. He’d been with al Mutawakkil since before he was in line for the throne, and was the caliph’s most trusted advisor. Fat’h was known as a cultured and educated man. He accompanied al Mutawakkil constantly, and was the only one with him when the two met their bloody ends.
• Ubaydallah ibn Yahya ibn Khaqan: al Mutawakkil’s vizier and chief treasurer was also a close friend of the caliph. He and Fat’h advocated for most of the policies that defined al Mutawakkil’s reign, like his religious edicts and his occasional attempts at weakening the Turks. 
• Al Muntasir: the caliph’s eldest son was named his heir early on in al Mutawakkil’s reign. While we don’t have much about him as a youth, he comes off as an impatient and spoilt young man. His relationship with his father seems to have always been bad, all the way until the end.
• Al Mut’azz: this son of al Mutawakkil was second in line, and is said to have been born to the caliph’s favorite wife. He was ten years younger than al Muntasir, and their father’s intentions were for him to oversee Khurasan, Azerbaijan, and Armenia, though honestly I’m not sure how that would have worked. Anyway it’s a non-issue because that theoretical future never came to be.
• Al Mu’ayyad: the youngest of the heirs is the most forgettable of the three, though he will play a minor role down the line.
• Waseef: the big bad Turk was still around, and he was the main foil to al Mutawakkil’s designs against the military. The caliph’s antagonism towards all the Turks helped Waseef unite their leaders all behind his banner, and his interests came to represent theirs.
• Big Bugha: the first Turk accused of treason by the caliph was the only one who never considered it. This military workhorse played no part in any court intrigues, and he stuck to what he knew best: the battlefield.
• Little Bugha: Waseef’s only peer and main collaborator, this one-time cupbearer had become the second most powerful Turk in the caliphate. He masterminded the caliph’s assassination, and in doing so hoped to become indispensable to al Muntasir.