al-Wathiq (817-847) was the Caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate from 842 to 847, succeeding al-Mu'tasim and preceding al-Mutawakkil.
Biography[]
al-Wathiq was born in 817 to Caliph al-Mu'tasim, and was a Sunni Muslim Bedouin. al-Wathiq was hailed as caliph from 26 December 841, when his father died. From 843 to 844 he arrested and tortured some of his prominent officials to encourage them to surrender funds that they allegedly misappropriated, and from 844 to 845 he sent Bugha al-Kabir to handle lawlessness in Arabia. In 845, he arranged for the release of 4,362 Muslim soldiers from Byzantine Empire prisons, the first prisoner exchange since 811. Under his rule, the Turkish slave soldiers and the local Arab populations of the empire began to experience animosity against each other, and in Syria and Palestine several revolts began. In the end, the Turks became the dominant faction, and the animosity grew. Al-Wathiq died of a fever in 847.