Al-Muwaffaq in the context of "Saffarids"

The Anarchy at Samarra (Arabic: فوضى سامراء, romanized: fawḍā Sāmarrāʾ) was a period of extreme internal instability from 861 to 870 in the history of the Abbasid Caliphate, marked by the violent succession of four caliphs, who became puppets in the hands of powerful rival military groups.

The term derives from the then capital and seat of the caliphal court, Samarra. The "anarchy" began in 861, with the murder of Caliph al-Mutawakkil by his Turkish guards. His successor, al-Muntasir, ruled for six months before his death, possibly poisoned by the Turkish military chiefs. He was succeeded by al-Musta'in. Divisions within the Turkish army leadership enabled Musta'in to flee to Baghdad in 865 with the support of some Turkish chiefs (Bugha the Younger and Wasif) and the Police chief and governor of Baghdad Muhammad, but the rest of the Turkish army chose a new caliph in the person of al-Mu'tazz and besieged Baghdad, forcing the city's capitulation in 866. Musta'in was exiled and executed. Mu'tazz was able and energetic, and he tried to control the military chiefs and exclude the military from the civil administration. His policies were resisted, and in July 869 he too was deposed and killed. His successor, al-Muhtadi, also tried to reaffirm the Caliph's authority, but he too was killed in June 870. With Muhtadi's death and the ascension of al-Mu'tamid, the Turkish faction around Musa ibn Bugha, closely associated with Mu'tamid's brother and regent al-Muwaffaq, became dominant in the caliphal court, ending the "anarchy".

The Battle of Basra was a major engagement of the Zanj Rebellion, fought on September 7–10, 871. Zanj rebels and allied Arab tribesmen, led by Yahya ibn Muhammad al-Azraq and 'Ali ibn Aban al-Muhallabi, launched a coordinated attack against the city of Basra. The city’s defenders, consisting of a small contingent of Abbasid regular troops and local Basran militia, were quickly overwhelmed, and the Zanj were able to enter the city, after which they massacred its inhabitants and engaged in a several-day period of looting.

The historian Alexandre Popovic has called the battle "the most outstanding event of this whole period if not of the entire [Zanj] revolt." The total loss of life and damage to the city is unknown, but Muslim historians have generally described the incident as being extremely destructive. Following the battle, the Abbasid government intensified its efforts to suppress the Zanj, and in the following year the caliphal regent Abu Ahmad personally went on campaign against the rebels.

Ahmad ibn Tulun (Arabic: أحمد بن طولون, romanized: Aḥmad ibn Ṭūlūn‎; c. 20 September 835 – 10 May 884) was the founder of the Tulunid dynasty that ruled Egypt and Syria between 868 and 905. Originally a Turkic slave-soldier, in 868 Ibn Tulun was sent to Egypt as governor by the Abbasid caliph . Within four years he had established himself as a virtually independent ruler by evicting the caliphal fiscal agent, Ibn al-Mudabbir, taking over control of Egypt's finances, and establishing a large military force consisting of native Egyptians personally loyal to himself. This process was facilitated by the volatile political situation in the Abbasid court and the preoccupation of the Abbasid regent, al-Muwaffaq, with the wars against the Persian Saffarids and the Zanj Rebellion. Ibn Tulun also established an efficient administration in Egypt. After reforms to the tax system, repairs to the irrigation system, and other measures, the annual tax yield grew markedly. As a symbol of his new regime, he built a new capital, al-Qata'i, north of the old capital Fustat.

After 875/6 he entered into open conflict with al-Muwaffaq, who tried unsuccessfully to unseat him. In 878, with the support of al-Muwaffaq's brother, Caliph al-Mu'tamid, Ibn Tulun took over the governance of Syria as well as the frontier districts with the Byzantine Empire, although control of Tarsus in particular proved tenuous. During his absence in Syria, his eldest son and deputy, Abbas, tried to usurp power in Egypt, leading to the imprisonment of Abbas and the nomination of Ibn Tulun's second son, Khumarawayh, as his heir. The defection in 882 of a senior commander, Lu'lu', to al-Muwaffaq, and the defection of Tarsus, forced Ibn Tulun to return to Syria. Now virtually powerless, al-Mu'tamid tried to escape from his brother's control to Ibn Tulun's domains but was captured by al-Muwaffaq's agents, and Ibn Tulun convened an assembly of jurists at Damascus to denounce al-Muwaffaq as a usurper. His attempt in autumn 883 to bring Tarsus to heel failed, and he fell sick. Returning to Egypt, he died in May 884 and was succeeded by Khumarawayh.

Abu’l-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad ibn Hārūn al-Muʿtamid ʿalā’Llāh (Arabic: أبو العباس أحمد بن جعفر; c. 842 – 14 October 892), better known by his regnal name al-Muʿtamid ʿalā 'llāh (المعتمد على الله, 'Dependent on God'), was the caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate from 870 to 892. His reign marks the end of the "Anarchy at Samarra" and the start of the Abbasid restoration, but he was largely a ruler in name only. Power was held by his brother al-Muwaffaq, who held the loyalty of the military. Al-Mu'tamid's authority was circumscribed further after a failed attempt to flee to the domains controlled by Ahmad ibn Tulun in late 882, and he was placed under house arrest by his brother. In 891, when al-Muwaffaq died, loyalists attempted to restore power to the Caliph, but were quickly overcome by al-Muwaffaq's son al-Mu'tadid, who assumed his father's powers. When al-Mu'tamid died in 892, al-Mu'tadid succeeded him as caliph.

Musa ibn Bugha al-Kabir (died 877) was an Abbasid military leader of Turkic origin.

Musa was the son of Bugha al-Kabir, one of the leading Turkish generals under Caliph al-Mu'tasim (r. 833–842). Bugha came into the caliph's service as a slave (ghulam) in 819 or 820 CE, alongside his son, suggesting a birthdate earlier than this. He may have participated in or at least organized the assassination of Caliph al-Mutawakkil in 861. Upon Bugha's death in 862, Musa succeeded his father in his offices and played an important role in the troubles of the "Anarchy at Samarra". Finally, he emerged victorious, and through his close association with the vizier and regent al-Muwaffaq, he became the most powerful general of the Abbasid Caliphate from 870 until his own death in 877. His sons Ahmad, Muhammad and al-Fadl likewise became senior military figures of the Caliphate, especially against the Zanj Rebellion. Musa has also campaigned against Hasan ibn Zayd in Tabaristan between the years of 253/867 to 256/870 in the motive of establishing a dominance over the region.