Al-Qadir

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Al-Qadir (Arabic: القادر) (d. 1031) was the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad from 991 to 1031. Grandson of al-Muqtadir, he was chosen in place of the deposed Caliph, at-Taʾi, his cousin. Banished from the Capital earlier, he was now recalled and appointed to the office he had long desired. He held the Caliphate for 40 years. It was during his Caliphate that Mahmud of Ghaznavid arose, threatening the empire; and but for the conflicts that broke out in Mahmud's family upon his death, the Buwayhid kingdom, paralysed by damaging war, would have been swallowed. It should be noted that the global Muslim population had climbed to about 4 per cent as against the Christian population of 10 per cent by 1000.

Al-Qadir is noted for taking the lead in the Sunni struggle against Shiʿism. He helped Sunnis set up their own festivals to rival Shiʿas celebrations and made Hanbali the official Muslim position. Mohammad Arkoun considers his decrees against heresies such as the createdness of the Qurʾan, which effectively outlawed the Muʿtazila school, as sounding the death knell for philosophy in Islamic thought. Ibn Rushd (Averoes), who died in 1198, is considered by Arkoun to be the last significant Muslim philosopher before modern times.

Al-Qadir died at eighty-seven years of age, and was succeeded by his son.