Abu Bakr Bin Yahya Al-Suli - Akhbar Al-Radi Wa'l-Muttaqi

Akhbar Al-Radi Wa'l-Muttaqi

Al-Suli's chronicle has long been in the shadow of more famous chronicles such as those of al-Mas'udi and Miskawayh, perhaps because al-Suli was seen as a nadim and not a serious scholar. However, the account in significant for offering an eyewitness account of the transition to Buyid rule. It was during al-Radi's caliphate in 936 that the position of amir al-umara was created, which allowed for the transfer of executive power from the caliph to an amir, a position that the Buyids later used to establish a new dynasty alongside the Abbasids. After this point, the Abbasids never regained their full power. However, al-Suli's account makes it clear that not all power was transferred to the amirs. He treats the period as a time of crisis, but not the end of the Abbasid caliphate.