The distance of Egypt from Baghdad, the caliph’s capital, was the cause of the neglect of many of his commands, and upon more than one occasion was his authority slighted.  Thus it happened that for more than five years the government of Egypt was in the hands of Abd Allah ibn es-Sari, whom the soldiers elected, but whose appointment was never confirmed by the caliph.  Abd Allah ibn Tahir, the son of the successful general, had, in the year a.h. 210, settled at Belbeys in Egypt.  With a large number of partisans, he assumed almost regal privileges.  In 211 a.h. he proceeded to Fostat and there dismissed Abd Allah ibn es-Sari and replaced him by Ayad ibn Ibrahim, whom he also dismissed the following year, giving the governorship to Isa ibn Yazid, surnamed el-Jalud.  In the year 213, the Caliph el-Mamun ordered Abd Allah ibn Tahir to retire, and confided the government of Egypt and also that of Syria to his own brother el-Mutasim, third son of the Caliph Ilarun er-Rashid.

In the year 218 of the Hegira (a. d. 833), Muhammed el-Mutasim succeeded his brother el-Mamun.  He was the first caliph who brought the name of God into his surname.  On ascending the throne, he assumed the title el-Mutasim b’lllah, that is “strengthened by God,” and his example was followed by all his successors.

From the commencement of this reign, el-Mutasim b’lllah was forced to defend himself against insurgents and aspirants to the caliphate.  In the year 219 of the Hegira, Kindi, the Governor of Egypt, died, and the caliph named his son, Mudhaffar ibn Kindi, as his successor.  Mudhaffar ibn Kindi, dying the following year, was succeeded by Musa, son of Abu’l-Abbas, surnamed esh-Shirbani by some writers, esh-Shami (the Syrian) by others.  In the year 224 Musa was recalled and his place taken by Malik, surnamed by some el-Hindi (the Indian), by others ibn el-Kindi.  A year later the caliph dismissed Malik, and sent Ashas to Egypt in his place.  This was the last governor appointed by el-Mutasim b’lllah, for the caliph died of fever in the year 227 of the Hegira.

Oriental historians have noticed that the numeral eight affected this caliph in a singular manner.  Between himself and Abbas, the head of his house, there were eight generations; he was born in the month of Shaban, the eighth month of the Mussulman year; he was the eighth Abbasidian caliph, and ascended the throne in the year 218, aged thirty-eight years and eight months; he reigned eight years, eight months, and eight days, and died in the forty-eighth year of his age, leaving eight sons and eight daughters.  He fought in eight battles, and on his death eight million dinars and eighty thousand dirhems were discovered in his private treasury.  It is this singular coincidence which gave him the name Mutamma.

[Illustration:  351.jpg TOMB OF A SHEIKH]