Akhbar al-Radi Billah wal-Muttaqi Lillah = Tarikh al-Dawla al-Abbasiyya
- Author died
- 335 AH
- Editions
- Maṭba‘at al-Ṣāwī
Akhbar al-Radi Billah wal-Muttaqi Lillah (also known as Tarikh al-Dawla al-Abbasiyya) is a historical chronicle by the Abbasid scholar, courtier, and chess master Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Yahya al-Suli (d. 335 AH / 946 CE), covering the history of the Abbasid caliphate between 322 AH and 333 AH . The text constitutes a surviving section of al-Suli's larger historical and literary compendium Kitab al-Awraq .
Subject and Content
The work provides a chronicle of the Abbasid state during the reigns of the caliphs al-Radi Billah and al-Muttaqi Lillah . While earlier sections of Kitab al-Awraq largely compiled reports and verse transmitted from other authorities, this section is distinguished by al-Suli's personal eyewitness perspective . Al-Suli had previously tutored al-Radi before his accession and served as his close court companion (nadim), and the text records his direct conversations with the caliph, panegyrics, courtly exchanges, and gifts .
The chronicle offers detailed historical documentation of the decline of Abbasid central authority, the palace intrigues surrounding the caliphs, and the gradual erosion of caliphal power to military commanders and rival factions . It includes official decrees and court correspondence, such as Caliph al-Muttaqi's proclamation upon fleeing Baghdad , as well as poetic compositions by Caliph al-Radi and al-Suli himself .
Reception and Editions
The text served as a primary source for subsequent medieval historians, who relied on al-Suli's accounts and quoted his reports verbatim for the events of this era .
The work was edited from manuscript by the British orientalist J. Heyworth-Dunne and published in Cairo by Matba'at al-Sawi in 1935 CE (1354 AH) under the title Akhbar al-Radi Billah wal-Muttaqi Lillah aw Tarikh al-Dawla al-Abbasiyya min Sanat 322 ila Sanat 333 H. . It appeared as part of a series of three surviving portions of Kitab al-Awraq issued by Heyworth-Dunne during the years 1934–1936, alongside the volumes dedicated to modern poets (Akhbar al-Shu'ara') and the poems of caliphal descendants (Ash'ar Awlad al-Khulafa') .
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