Ar-Radi

Abu 'l-Abbas Muhammad ibn Ja'far al-Muqtadir (Arabic: أبو العباس محمد بن جعفر المقتدر‎) (907 – 23 December 940), usually simply known by his regnal name al-Radi bi-llah (Arabic: الراضي بالله‎, "Content with God"), was the 23rd Abbasid Caliph, reigning (rather then ruling) in Baghdad from 934 to his death at the age of thirty-three in 940.

Biography

The seven years' reign of ar-Radi, son of caliph al-Muqtadir, was but a succession of misfortune. Praised for his piety, he became the mere tool of the chief minister of the day. The authority of the Caliph extended hardly beyond the region of the capital city. After one Vazir had been imprisoned by his enemies, and another had defected in disgrace, ar-Radi, being without resources, fell into the hands of an able but cruel, de facto ruling Minister, Ibn Raik, for whom he created the post of amir al-umara 'Amir of the Amirs', who held so absolutely the reins of government that his name was conjoined with the Caliph's in the public prayers.