flames. Izz al-Dawla used the opportunity to pressure al-Muti' into selling off his valuables and providing 400,000 dirhams, ostensibly to be used to employ soldiers against the Byzantines. Al-Muti' protested in a much-quoted letter, but had no option but to comply; the money was soon squandered by the profligate Buyid ruler. This act proved to be a costly political mistake for Izz al-Dawla, further alienating Sunni sympathies in Baghdad, where his control grew even more tenuous. Abdication and death Over the years, Izz al-Dawla increasingly alienated his Turkic soldiery, under their commander Sabuktakin, culminating in a failed assassination attempt on the latter. The Turks had also gained the support of the Sunni populace in Baghdad after putting down the riots in 972. As a result, on 1 August 974, Sabuktakin seized control of Baghdad from Izz al-Dawla. When the coup happened, al-Muti' left Baghdad along with the members of the Buyid clan, but Sabuktakin forced him back and confined him to his palace. Of advanced years, and with his right side paralyzed following a stroke in 970, al-Muti' was induced to abdicate with his health as a pretext, and was replaced by his son Abd al-Karim, as al-Ta'i (), on 5 August. This was the first father-to-son succession of the caliphate since al-Muktafi in 902. Sabuktakin had himself appointed by the new caliph, and left Baghdad to campaign against the Buyids, accompanied by both al-Muti' and al-Ta'i. Al-Muti' died on the way, at Dayr al-Aqul, on 12 October 974. He was buried at the mausoleum of his paternal grandmother, Shaghab, in the Baghdad quarter of al-Rusafa, where his brother al-Radi had also been buried. Notes References Sources 914 births 974 deaths 10th-century Abbasid caliphs 10th century in Iraq Monarchs who abdicated People under the Buyid dynasty Sons of Abbasid caliphs