At-Ta'i

Abd al-Karim (future Al-Ṭāʾiʿ li-Amr Allāh) was the son of Abbasid caliph Al-Muti and the Umm walad called Hazar also known Atab. He was born in 932, in the fourth Islamic century.

On 1 August 974, the Turkic general Sebuktegin seized control of Baghdad from Amir al-umara Izz al-Dawla,[1] and seemed on the verge of overthrowing Buyid control over Iraq altogether, until reinforcements from the other Buyid emirs defeated the Turks in January 975.[2] Al-Muti made preparations to leave Baghdad, but Sebüktegin prevented his escape and confined him to his palace.[1] At the same time, al-Muti was increasingly incapacitated by a partial paralysis that had begun three years earlier.[1] As a result, he was forced to abdicate and was replaced by his son Abd al-Karim, as al-Ta'i (r. 974–991), on 5 August.[3][1][4] Sebüktegin then left Baghdad to campaign against the Buyids, accompanied by both al-Muti and al-Ta'i. Al-Muti died on the way, at Dayr al-Aqul, on 12 October 974.[3][1] He was buried at his father's mausoleum in the Baghdad quarter of al-Rusafa.[1]

During his Caliphate, Syria was torn by contending factions — Fatimid and Carmathian; while the Buyids was split up into parties that were fighting among themselves. To top this all off, the Byzantine Emperor John Tzimisces stormed the east in a victorious campaign in 975. After holding the office for seventeen years, aṭ-Ṭaʼiʻ was deposed in 991 by the Buyid emir Baha' al-Dawla.[5]

Aṭ-Ṭāʾiʿ ruled for 17 years from 974 to 991 C.E. He was very weak and incapable, virtually a Buwayhid prisoner. During his rule the Abbasid dominions further shrunk in extent, as Syria and Hijaz were occupied by the Fatimid. The Abbasid Caliphate was no longer in the position to make any conquests. The protection of the borders now became the responsibility of the petty states that had arisen on the borders of the dominion.

More information on aṭ-Ṭāʾiʿ can be found in Hilal al-Sabi's account of the Abbasid court, specifically the interaction between aṭ-Ṭaʼiʻ and his Buwayhid generalissimo 'Adud al-Daula.

In 991, the Buyid emir Baha al-Dawla deposed al-Ta'i, because the latter had been showing signs of independence. In his stead, Baha al-Dawla installed al-Qadir (his cousin) to the caliphate on 22 November 991 (19 Ramadan 381 AH).[6][7][8] The deposed al-Ta'i was kept in captivity until his death twelve years later.[9]

As an Abbasid prince, Ahmad received a good education; he is recorded as having collected Shafi'i works on jurisprudence (fiqh) by Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Harawi.[6]

• Timeline of 10th-century Muslim history

• Busse, Heribert (2004) [1969]. Chalif und Grosskönig - Die Buyiden im Irak (945-1055) [Caliph and Great King - The Buyids in Iraq (945-1055)] (in German). Würzburg: Ergon Verlag. ISBN 3-89913-005-7.
• Demircan, Adnan (2010). "Tâi'-Lillâh". TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, Vol. 39 (Şeri̇f Paşa – Tanzanya) (in Turkish). Istanbul: Turkiye Diyanet Foundation, Centre for Islamic Studies. pp. 447–448. ISBN 9789753896320.
• Donohue, John J. (2003). The Buwayhid Dynasty in Iraq 334 H./945 to 403 H./1012: Shaping Institutions for the Future. Leiden and Boston: Brill. ISBN 90-04-12860-3.
• Hanne, Eric J. (2007). Putting the Caliph in His Place: Power, Authority, and the Late Abbasid Caliphate. Madison, New Jersey: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. ISBN 978-0-8386-4113-2.
• Kennedy, Hugh (2004). The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates: The Islamic Near East from the 6th to the 11th Century (Second ed.). Harlow: Longman. ISBN 978-0-582-40525-7.
• Zetterstéen, K. V. & Bosworth, C. E. (2000). "al- Ṭāʾiʿ Li-Amr Allāh". In Bearman, P. J.; Bianquis, Th.; Bosworth, C. E.; van Donzel, E. & Heinrichs, W. P. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, New Edition, Volume X: T–U. Leiden: E. J. Brill. p. 115. ISBN 978-90-04-11211-7.