Al-Mu'tamid (d. October 892) was the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad from 870 to 892. He was the eldest surviving son of al-Mutawakkil and was brought out from confinement at Samarra after the deposition of al-Muhtadi. But his brother, al-Muwaffak, was the real ruler. After a rebellion brought danger near Baghdad, al-Mu'tamid brought his brother from his government at Mecca. Thereafter his brother held the reins, and continued to do so till his death near the close of al-Mu'tamid's life.

This was unexpectedly a brighter period of the Caliphate, of vigor and prosperity returning, and was maintained until the end of the century. The brave example of the previous Caliph, al-Muhtadi, however sad its ending, and a succession of able rulers, contributed to this result. But the main cause was the return of the Court in 892 to Baghdad, where, supported by natives, it could better avoid the outrage and curb the influence of Turkish soldiers. During this and the next two Caliph's rule, there was no repetition of attacks upon the person of the Caliph, which had made the court at Samarra a byword among the nations.

After al-Muwaffak fell sick, he transferred substantial authority he possessed to his own son al-Mu'tadid. This prince was a favorite at the Capital. Al-Mu'tamid never regained any real power; in fact, he often had to struggle with a few dinars in his purse. In the year following his brother's death, he was obliged publicly to depose his own son from the succession, and recognize al-Mu'tadid as successor. He did not survive long after that, having drunk himself to death in a night festival, in October 892, at the age of fifty years, of which he had been Caliph, though only in name, for twenty-three years.

References

• This text is adapted from William Muir's public domain, The Caliphate: Its Rise, Decline, and Fall.

Preceded by: al-Muhtadi	Abbasid Leader	Succeeded by: al-Mu'tadid
	Caliph