of the period, al-Qasim ibn Ubayd Allah favoured the Banu'l-Jarrah and resisted the pro-Shi'ite leanings of the Banu'l-Furat. The leading representative of the Banu'l-Furat, Abu'l-Hasan Ali ibn al-Furat, only escaped death due to the vizier's own death in 904. Before his death al-Qasim had nominated as his successors either al-Abbas ibn al-Hasan al-Jarjara'i or Ali ibn Isa al-Jarrah, but the latter refused the post, and Ali ibn al-Furat quickly gained the favour of al-Abbas al-Jarjara'i and the Caliph. Campaigns Al-Muktafi's brief reign was dominated by warfare, but he was unlike his father, the " caliph" par excellence. Al-Mu'tadid had actively participated in campaigns, setting a personal example and allowing for the formation of ties of loyalty, reinforced by patronage, between the ruler and the soldiers. Al-Muktafi, on the other hand, did not "in his character and comportment [...], being a sedentary figure, instill much loyalty, let alone inspiration, in the soldiers", according to the historian Michael Bonner. Relations with the eastern warlords Al-Mu'tadid had had a turbulent relationship with the Saffarids, who ruled most of Persia: their rule over the eastern parts of the Islamic world was recognized by Baghdad, but the caliph and the Saffarids contested control over western Persia, notably the provinces of Fars and Kirman. In 901, the Saffarids had seized Fars, and repulsed Badr al-Mu'tadidi's attempts to recover it. At the time of al-Muktafi's accession, the Saffarids captured Rayy. A military response was delayed by the affair around Badr al-Mu'tadidi, and it was not until 5 November that troops were sent to the region. The result of the expedition is unknown, however, and it is known that the Samanids captured Rayy in the same year. Like his father before him, al-Muktafi preferred to reach a modus vivendi with the Saffarids, and in the next year confirmed them in their control over Fars. Baghdad's relations with the quasi-independent ruler of Adharbayjan, Yusuf ibn Abi'l-Saj, had never been settled and became increasingly strained under al-Muktafi. In 908, an army under Hakam al-Muflihi was sent against Ibn Abi'l-Saj, but after al-Muktafi's death soon after, a settlement was reached: Ibn Abi'l-Saj acknowledged caliphal suzerainty and was named governor of Armenia and Adharbayjan. Qarmatian uprisings The early caliphates were always threatened by the radical Kharijite sects, which were especially prevalent among the marginalized populations "who inhabited the borderlands between the desert and the sown" and were hostile to the central authorities.