Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā ibn al-‘Abbās al-Ṣūlī was a Turkic scholar and a court companion of three Abbāsid caliphs: al-Muktafī, his successor al-Muqtadir, and later, al-Rāḍī, whom he also tutored. He was a bibliophile, wrote letters, editor-poet, chronicler, and a shatranj player. His contemporary biographer Isḥāq al-Nadīm tells us he was “of manly bearing.” He wrote many books, the most famous of which are Kitāb Al-Awrāq and Kitāb al-Shiṭranj.

Abu'l-Abbas Muhammad ibn Ja'far al-Muqtadir, usually simply known by his regnal name al-Radi bi'llah, was the twentieth Caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate, reigning from 934 to his death. He died on 23 December 940 at the age of 31. His reign marked the end of the caliph's political power and the rise of military strongmen, who competed for the title of amir al-umara.