For the first time in Arab history, a council of administrators selected the man who would become the next caliph. The umma had come a long way since it was first united by the prophet and this development seemed to signal its capture by the state. One would expect the bunch of bureaucrats to pick someone supportive of their interests but al Mutawakkil turned out to be quite a maverick, the first of several surprises we’ll come across during this caliph’s long reign.