Itah

According to his nisba , Itah was a Khazar by origin and a slave in the kitchen of Salam al-Abrash al-Hadim, nicknamed al-Tabbah (cook), until he was bought out as gulam al-Mutasim in 815 ^{[1] [ 2]} . He soon became one of the senior commanders of the Turkic guard al-Mutasim and participated in several battles, including the siege of Amoria .

Under al-Mutasim, Itah served as the head of the Shurts in Abbasid Samarra and commanded the Caliph’s personal guard ^[1] . After al-Wasik came to power in 842, Itah, together with the commander Ashinas, became the main people of the caliphate ^[3] . Al-Wasik appointed Itah Viceroy in Yemen in 843 or 844 ^[1] . After the death of Ashinas in 844 or 845, Itah was appointed governor in Egypt, but ceded his post to Hartamah ibn al-Nadr al-Jabali ^{[1] [3]} . The Yakubi chronicles state that under al-Wasik Itah ruled the Great Khorasan , Sindh and the lands on the Tigris River ^[1] .

After the unexpected death of al-Wasik in August 847, Itah was appointed one of the most important officials along with the Vizier Muhammad ibn al-Zayyat, the supreme Qadi Ahmad ibn Abi Duwad and the military commander Vasif al-Turki, who were to choose an heir as a caliph. Ibn al-Zayyat proposed to appoint the son of the deceased, al-Mukhtadi , but he was too young. The council appointed another son of al-Mutasim, the 26-year-old Jafar, who became the caliph al-Mutawakkil ^{[4] [5]} . The new caliph decided to get rid of his father's servants who ruled the entire caliphate ^[6] . The first target was the vizier of ibn al-Zayyat, whom al-Mutawakkil did not respect for his past. On September 22, 847, he sent Itah with a message to ibn al-Zayyat asking him to come to the meeting. The vizier was brought to Itah’s house, where Itah put him under house arrest and soon tortured him to death, taking his personal property ^{[7] [8]} . This was the apogee of Itah’s career: he held the positions of Hadjib , the head of the palace guard and the head of the barid (head of the network of spies) ^[3] .

In 848, however, Itah was persuaded to perform the Hajj and resign, and they were arrested on his return, taking all his property (in the personal home of one of the Caliph’s spies, they found a million gold dinars). Itah died of thirst in prison in 849 ^[3] .

• The History of al-Ṭabarī, Volume XXXIII: Storm and Stress along the Northern Frontiers of the ʿAbbāsid Caliphate. The Caliphate of al-Mu'tasim, AD 833–842 / AH 218–227 / CE Bosworth. - Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 1991 .-- ISBN 0-7914-0493-5 .
• Matthew Gordon. The Breaking of a Thousand Swords: A History of the Turkish Military of Samarra, AH 200–275 / 815–889 CE . - Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 2001 .-- ISBN 978-0-7914-4795-6 .
• Hugh N. Kennedy. When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World: The Rise and Fall of Islam's Greatest Dynasty . - Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2006 .-- ISBN 978-0-306814808 .
• The History of al-Ṭabarī, Volume XXXIV: Incipient Decline. The Caliphates of al-Wāthiq, al-Mutawakkil, and al-Muntasir, AD 841–863 / AH 227–248 / Joel L. Kraemer. - Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 1989 .-- ISBN 0-88706-874-X .
• The Encyclopedia of Islam, New Edition, Volume XII: Supplement // Aytāk̲h̲ al-Turkī . - Leiden and New York: BRILL, 2004 .-- ISBN 90-04-13974-5 .