page_title: Al-Mutawakkil
section_title: Accomplishments
hierarchical_section_title: Al-Mutawakkil / Accomplishments
caption_attribution_description: English: Recto: Illustration from the dispersed Ta'rikh-i Alfi manuscript depicting the historical destruction of the Tomb of Husain at Kerbela on the orders of Caliph al-Mutawakkil. The event, depicted in layers, portrays a violent massacre following the initial destruction. The illustration is interupted by large segments of text on the left. Painted in gouache on paper.
context_page_description: Abu al-Faḍl Jaʽfar ibn Muḥammad al-Muʽtaṣim billāh, better known by his regnal name al-Mutawakkil ʽalà Allāh was an Abbasid caliph who reigned in Samarra from 847 until 861. He succeeded his brother al-Wathiq. His assassination on 11 December 861 by the Turkic guard with the support of his son, al-Muntasir, began the troubled period of civil strife known as "Anarchy at Samarra".
  He is known as the caliph who ended the Mihna.
context_section_description: Al-Mutawakkil was unlike his brother and father in that he was not known for having a thirst for knowledge, but he had an eye for magnificence and a hunger to build. The Great Mosque of Samarra was, at its time, the largest mosque in the world; its minaret is a vast spiralling cone 55 m high with a spiral ramp. The mosque had 17 aisles and its wall were panelled with mosaics of dark blue glass.
  The Great Mosque was just part of an extension of Samarra eastwards that built upon part of the walled royal hunting park. Al-Mutawakkil built as many as 20 palaces (the numbers vary in documents). Samarra became one of the largest cities of the ancient world; even the archaeological site of its ruins is one of the world's most extensive.
  The Caliph's building schemes extended in A.H. 245 (859–860) to a new city, al-Jaʻfariyya, which al-Mutawakkil built on the Tigris some eighteen kilometres from Samarra. Al-Mutawakkil ordered a canal to be built to divert water from the Tigris, entrusting the project to two courtiers, who ignored the talents of a local engineer of repute and entrusted the work to al-Farghanī, the great astronomer and writer. Al-Farghanī, who was not a specialist in public works, made a miscalculation and it appeared that the opening of the canal was too deep so that water from the river would only flow at near full flood.
  News leaked to the infuriated caliph might have meant the heads of all concerned save for the gracious actions of the engineer, Sind ibn ʻAlī, who vouched for the eventual success of the project, thus risking his own life. Al-Mutawakkil was assassinated shortly before the error became public.
  Al-Mutawakkil was keen to involve himself in many religious debates, something that would show in his actions against different minorities. His father had tolerated the Shīʻa Imām who taught and preached at Medina, and for the first years of his reign al-Mutawakkil continued the policy. Imām ʻAlī al-Hadī's growing reputation inspired a letter from the Governor of Medina, ʻAbdu l-Lāh ibn Muħammad, suggesting that a coup was being plotted, and al-Mutawakkil extended an invitation to Samarra to the Imām, an offer he could not refuse. In Samarra, the Imām was kept under virtual house arrest and spied upon. However, no excuse to take action against him ever appeared. After al-Mutawakkil's death, his successor had the Imām poisoned: al-Hadī is buried at Samarra. The general Shīʻa population faced repression. and this was embodied in the destruction of the shrine of Hussayn ibn ʻAlī, an action that was carried out ostensibly in order to stop pilgrimages to that site, and the flogging and incarceration of the Alid Yahya ibn Umar.
  Also during his reign, Al-Mutawakkil met the famous Byzantine theologian Cyril the Philosopher, who was sent to tighten the diplomatic relations between the Empire and the Caliphate in a state mission by the Emperor Michael III.
  Of his sons, al-Muntasir succeeded him and ruled until his death in 862, al-Mu'tazz reigned as Caliph from 866 to his overthrow in 869, and al-Mu'tamid reigned as Caliph in 870–892 with his brother al-Muwaffaq serving as an effective regent of the realm until his death in 891.
caption: Destruction of the Tomb of Husain at Kerbela
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