Al-Muti'

al-Mutīʿ li-ʾllāh المطيع لله
Caliph Commander of the Faithful
Copper fals of the Samanid ruler Mansur I ibn Nuh, citing al-Muti' as overlord, Bukhara, 964/65 CE
23rd Caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate
Reign	28 January 946 – 5 August 974
Predecessor	al-Mustakfi
Successor	al-Ta'i
Born	913/14 Baghdad
Died	12 October 974 (aged 60) Dayr al-Aqul
Burial	al-Rusafa, Baghdad
Consort	Utb
Issue	al-Ta'i
Names Abu'l-Qasim al-Fadl ibn Jaʿfar al-Muqtadir al-Mutiʿ li-ʾllāh
Dynasty	Abbasid
Father	al-Muqtadir
Mother	Mash'ala
Religion	Sunni Islam

Abū ʾl-Qāsim al-Faḍl ibn al-Muqtadir (Arabic: أبو القاسم الفضل بن المقتدر; 913/14 – September/October 974), better known by his regnal name of al-Mutīʿ li-ʾllāh (Arabic: المطيع لله, lit. 'Obedient to God'^[1]), was the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad from 946 to 974, ruling under the tutelage of the Buyid emirs.

Al-Muti's reign represented the nadir of the Abbasid caliphate's power and authority. In previous decades, the secular authority of the caliphs had shrunk to Iraq, and even there had been curtailed by powerful warlords; with the Buyid conquest of Baghdad, it was now abolished entirely. Al-Muti' was raised to the throne by the Buyids and was effectively reduced to a rubber-stamp figurehead, albeit with some vestiges of authority over judicial and religious appointments in Iraq. The very fact of his subordination and powerlessness helped restore some stability to the caliphal institution: in stark contrast to his short-lived and violently deposed predecessors, al-Muti' enjoyed a long and relatively unchallenged tenure, and was able to hand over the throne to his son al-Ta'i'.

Al-Muti's prestige as the nominal leader of the Muslim world sharply declined during his tenure. Regional rivals to the Buyids delayed their recognition of al-Muti's caliphate, seeing in him only a Buyid puppet, and his inability to respond effectively to Byzantine advances tarnished his reputation. More importantly, the rise of Shi'a regimes across the Middle East directly challenged Sunni and Abbasid predominance. The Buyids themselves were Shi'a, but they retained the Abbasid caliphate out of expedience. Further west, the expanding Fatimid Caliphate posed a direct ideological and political challenge to the Abbasids. During al-Muti's reign, the Fatimids conquered Egypt and started to expand into the Levant, threatening Baghdad itself.