Tazz The Alliance (2000-2001) What is The Alliance about? After being contacted by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1999, Taz debuted for the WWF, with the slightly modified ring name Tazz,
How successful was Tazz's career?
How successful was Tazz's career?
After being contacted by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1999, Taz debuted for the WWF, with the slightly modified ring name Tazz, at the 2000 Royal Rumble with a win over the previously undefeated Kurt Angle at Madison Square Garden. Just a few months after Tazz arrived in the WWF, Mike Awesome, the man he had lost the ECW World Heavyweight Championship to at Anarchy Rulz, secretly signed with WCW. Legal wrangling by Paul Heyman prevented Awesome from taking the championship belt with him, and in a bizarre piece of professional wrestling history, ECW and WWF officials agreed to have Tazz, a WWF wrestler, make a surprise appearance at an ECW show to defeat Awesome, a WCW wrestler, for the ECW World Heavyweight Championship. Tazz held the title for ten days before losing it to Tommy Dreamer, during which time he wore it on various WWF shows, including an episode of SmackDown! where he lost to the WWF Champion Triple H. However, Vince McMahon later expressed some regret over booking Tazz to lose to Triple H. After losing the ECW World Heavyweight Championship, Tazz was placed into contention for the Intercontinental Championship, but never won the title. In the summer, after taking time off for an arm injury, he was turned into a villainous character and placed into a feud with color commentator Jerry Lawler. The feud included matches at SummerSlam and Unforgiven, which they split. Tazz was only able to pick up the Unforgiven win when he received help from Raven, who had returned to the company. Afterwards, the duo formed a tag team that lasted until November. When the Invasion angle began, Tazz acted as "the voice of the WCW/ECW Alliance", sticking up for them and speaking on their behalf whenever possible. He eventually left the stable after the leader Stone Cold Steve Austin criticized his decision to stay on commentary rather than help ECW owner Stephanie McMahon. CANNOTANSWER
Tazz, a WWF wrestler, make a surprise appearance at an ECW show to defeat Awesome, a WCW wrestler, for the ECW World Heavyweight Championship.
Abdallah ibn al-Mu'tazz (; 861 – 17 December 908) was the son of the caliph al-Mu'tazz and a political figure, but is better known as a leading Arabic poet and the author of the Kitab al-Badi, an early study of Arabic forms of poetry. This is considered one of the earliest works in Arabic literary theory and literary criticism. 

Persuaded to assume the role of caliph of the Abbasid dynasty following the premature death of al-Muktafi, he succeeded in ruling for a single day and a single night, before he was forced into hiding, found, and then strangled in a palace intrigue that brought al-Muqtadir, then thirteen years old, to the throne

Life

Born in Samarra as a prince of the imperial house and the great-great-grandson of Harun al-Rashid, Ibn al-Mu'tazz had a tragic childhood in the byzantine intrigues of the Abbasid caliphate. His grandfather, the caliph al-Mutawakkil, was assassinated when Ibn al-Mu'tazz was only six weeks old. These events ushered in the nine-year Anarchy at Samarra. Abdallah ibn al-Mu'tazz's father, al-Mu'tazz 13th Caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate, came to power in 866, but in 869 was also murdered. The boy was spared the purge of the palace by fleeing to Mecca with his grandmother Qabiha.

Upon returning to Baghdad soon after, he distanced himself from politics and lived the hedonistic life of a young prince. It was during this time that he wrote his poetry, devoted to the pleasures with which he was so familiar.

After reigning from 5 April 902–13 August 908, the 17th Caliph, Abdallah ibn al-Mu'tazz's cousin Al-Muktafi, died. Vizier al-Abbas ibn al-Hasan al-Jarjara'i wished to install Al-Muktafi's thirteen-year-old brother Al-Muqtadir on the throne, clearly intending to be the power behind the throne himself. Despite his reluctance, Ibn al-Mu'tazz was persuaded by the opposition to assume the caliphate instead, in the hope that he would put an end to the intrigues that had plagued the dynasty for decades. He was crowned on 17 December 908, but was overthrown the same day. He fled the palace in Baghdad and hid with a friend, but was found on 29 December and strangled. Almost prophetically, he had once written as a poet:

A wonderful night, but so short
I brought it to life, then strangled it.

And another:

Accordingly, Abdallah ibn al-Mu'tazz was succeeded by the young Al-Muqtadir, who is accounted the 18th Caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate.

Works

Al-Mu'tazz's Kitab al-Badi, composed in 274 when he was 27, laid the groundwork for future studies of poetry by Arabic scholars. Its title can be translated as 'the book of the new style', and 'takes its name from its polemical aim, namely to show that the style of the poets called "modern" (muḥdathūn), such as Bashshār b. Burd (d. 167 or 168/784-5), Muslim b. al-Walīd (d. 208/823), or Abū Nuwās (d. between 198/813 and 200/815), is not so very "new" and that none of its features was not anticipated in the Quran, the traditions of Muḥammad and his companions, and old poetry.'

In the estimation of Charles Greville Tuety,

Ibn Al-Mu‘tazz is the spontaneous poet, akin in temper to Abu Nuwās. Free-ranging in his choice of subject, he is noted for newness of approach in handling his themes. What makes him essentially new, however, lies on another plane and is not immediately apparent: Carried along by his bold and sensuous imagery, we are satisfied that it is so, until, on pausing, we suddenly glimpse the perspective beyond.

Editions
There are two main editions of Al-Mu‘tazz's dīwān: Muhammad Badī‘ Šarīf (ed.), Dīwān aš‘ār al-amīr Abī l-‘Abbās ‘Abdallāh b. Muḥammad al-Mu‘tazz, Dahā’ir al-‘Arab (Cairo: Dār al-Ma‘ārif, 1977-78) and Yūnus Ahmad as-Sāmarrā’ī (ed.), Ši‘r Ibn al-Mu‘tazz: Qism 1: ad-Dīwān'; Qism 2: ad-Dirāsa, two parts in four volumes (Baghdad: Wizārat al-I‘lām, al-Ǧumhūrīya al-‘Irāqīa [Iraqi Ministry of Information], 1978). Of the two, the latter is more reliable, but at times the former offers better readings.

Another edition is  [Dīwān ibn al-Mu'tazz], ed. by  ( [Dar Sader] [n.d.]).

See also
 Al-Mufawwid

References

Further reading
 'Abd Allah ibn al-Mu'tazz, Kitāb al-Badī‘, ed. by Ignatius Kratchkovsky, Gibb Memorial New Series, 10 (London, 1935).
 G.B.H. Wightman and A.Y. al-Udhari, Birds through a Ceiling of Alabaster: Three Abbasid Poets, Penguin Books, 1975 ().
 Charles Greville Tuety (trans.), Classical Arabic Poetry: 162 Poems from Imrulkais to Ma‘arri (London: KPI, 1985), pp. 247–63.

861 births
908 deaths
9th-century Arabs
10th-century Arabs
10th-century Abbasid caliphs
9th-century Arabic poets
10th-century Arabic poets
9th-century Abbasid caliphs
People from Samarra
Poets of the Abbasid Caliphate
Baghdad under the Abbasid Caliphate
Sons of Abbasid caliphs Shah ibn Mikal or al-Shah ibn Mikal, was an Iranian nobleman from the Mikalid family, who served as a military commander of the Tahirid dynasty and Abbasid Caliphate.

Biography 
He was the son of Mikal, a nobleman who had left Iraq and settled in Khurasan, and could trace his descent back to the Sogdian ruler Divashtich. Shah also had a brother named Muhammad ibn Mikal, who, during his early career, along with Shah, played an important role under the Tahirid ruler Abdallah ibn Tahir al-Khurasani. In 864/865, Muhammad was killed during a battle at Ray. During the Caliphal Civil War of 865–866 between the two Abbasids al-Musta'in and al-Mu'tazz, Shah, along with the majority of the Iranians and Arabs sided with al-Musta'in, while the majority of the Turkic military officers sided with al-Mu'tazz. On March 20 865, Shah, along with the two other military officers Bundar al-Tabari and Khalid ibn 'Imran, fought the Turks near Baghdad, but were defeated and forced to withdraw. In the end, the civil war resulted in a victory for al-Mu'tazz. Shah, along with many other supporters of al-Musta'in, however, managed to successfully change their allegiance to al-Mu'tazz.

In 870, Shah was sent under an army to suppress the revolt of the Alid Ali ibn Zayd al-Talibi, which he managed to accomplish. During the Zanj Rebellion, Shah was in 880 appointed as one of the commanders of the cavalry. Nothing more is known about Shah; he later died in the late 9th-century.

Family 
Shah had a son named Muhammad ibn Shah, who was in 892 appointed by the Abbasid caliph Al-Mu'tadid as the commander of his guards. Shah also had a nephew named Abd-Allah Mikali, who was the son of his brother Muhammad.

References

Sources 
 
 
 
 

9th-century Iranian people
9th-century deaths
Generals of the Abbasid Caliphate
9th-century births
Mikalids Abu Ja'far Ahmad ibn Isra'il al-Anbari (; 824 or 825 – September 8, 869) was a prominent civil officer of the Abbasid Caliphate in the mid-9th century, serving as vizier (Arabic: wazir) during the caliphate of al-Mu'tazz (r. 866–869). His career came to a sudden end when he was arrested on the orders of the Turkish general Salih ibn Wasif in May 869, and he was killed four months later after being repeatedly subjected to torture.

Biography 
Ahmad, like several other officials in the Abbasid bureaucracy, came from a family of Nestorian Christian origin. He embarked on a career in the civil service and became a secretary (katib), serving under the Abbasid caliphs in Samarra. In 843-4, during the caliphate of al-Wathiq (r. 842–847), he was arrested as part of a general purge of the secretaries and was punished with a fine and flogging, but he was subsequently released and allowed to retain his office. Under al-Mutawakkil (r. 847–861), he became the chief secretary for the caliph's son and second heir al-Mu'tazz, and was also appointed as the vizier 'Ubaydallah ibn Yahya's deputy over the Department of Taxation (diwan al-kharaj).

During the civil war between the rival caliphs al-Musta'in and al-Mu'tazz in 865, Ahmad joined al-Musta'in after the latter fled to Baghdad, and remained in the city as it was besieged by al-Mu'tazz's army. As the war dragged on, however, he became a  proponent of ending the conflict, and attempted to convince the governor of Baghdad, Muhammad ibn 'Abdallah ibn Tahir, to seek peace with al-Mu'tazz and force al-Musta'in to abdicate. After Muhammad ibn 'Abdallah agreed to sue for peace, Ahmad served as a leading member of the delegations sent to negotiate the terms of surrender, which resulted in  al-Musta'in being deposed in January 866. As a reward for his efforts to end the war, al-Mu'tazz appointed Ahmad as the head of the Department of the Post (diwan al-barid) and shortly thereafter promoted him to be his vizier.

Ahmad remained vizier for most of al-Mu'tazz's caliphate (866–869), but his authority appears to have been limited. During his vizierate, the caliphate suffered from a major fiscal crisis, and the government was frequently incapable of paying the salaries of the soldiers. Ahmad also worked with the caliph to weaken the power of the senior Turkish officers, who had been in effective control of affairs in the capital since 861. In late 866 al-Mu'tazz attempted to remove Wasif al-Turki and Bugha al-Sharabi, two generals who had sided with al-Musta'in during the civil war, from power, but the caliph was forced to reverse his decision when the army protested this action, and after negotiating with the two men, Ahmad restored them to their positions. Despite this, al-Mu'tazz and Ahmad continued in their efforts to destroy the officers, and they succeeded in having Bugha killed in 868, which, combined with Wasif's death the previous year, resulted in the influence of the military being temporarily reduced.

Ultimately, however, the Turkish commanders successfully regained their power, and Ahmad's vizierate was brought down as a result. On May 19, 869, one of the Turkish leaders, Salih ibn Wasif, complained to the caliph about Ahmad and two other senior officials, al-Hasan ibn Makhlad and Abu Nuh 'Isa ibn Ibrahim, accusing them of corruption and of failing to pay the troops. A heated argument ensued between Salih and the three men, which ended when Salih's guards entered the room, apprehending the secretaries and hauling them away to the general's residence. Ahmad, al-Hasan and Abu Nuh were incarcerated and beaten, and an order was issued to seize the estates and properties of the officials and their families. They were not released until they promised to pay a large fine, which would be collected in installments.

In July 869, al-Mu'tazz was deposed and replaced with another caliph, al-Muhtadi. Shortly after the new caliph's accession, Salih ibn Wasif again seized the three secretaries and ordered them to be tortured, in an attempt to extract any remaining wealth they may still have had. Although al-Muhtadi disapproved of Salih's actions, he did nothing to stop him. On September 8, after securing a fatwa authorizing their execution, Salih had Ahmad and Abu Nuh brought to the public gate of the caliphal palace. There the two men were ordered to be flogged, with both men receiving five hundred lashes. After this, they were loaded onto donkeys and they were paraded around the city; both men died of their wounds during the procession.

Notes

References 
 
 Shaban, M.A. Islamic History: A New Interpretation, Volume 2, A.D. 750–1055 (A.H. 132–448). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976. 
 Sourdel, Dominique. Le Vizirat Abbaside de 749 à 936 (132 à 224 de l'Hégire) Vol. I Damascus: Institut Français de Damas, 1959.
 Al-Tabari, Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Jarir. The History of al-Tabari. Ed. Ehsan Yar-Shater. 40 vols. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1985–2007.
 Al-Ya'qubi, Ahmad ibn Abu Ya'qub. Historiae, Vol. 2. Ed. M. Th. Houtsma. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1883.

820s births
869 deaths
Viziers of the Abbasid Caliphate
9th-century people of the Abbasid Caliphate