sentences:  This made him a compliant figurehead who was unlikely to threaten al-Afdal's recent, and therefore as yet fragile, hold on power by attempting to appoint another to the vizierate.Some later accounts hold that al-Musta'li's accession was indeed legitimate, by asserting that on the wedding banquet, or on his deathbed, al-Mustansir had chosen him as his heir, and that one of al-Mustansir's sisters is said to have been called to him privately and received al-Musta'li's nomination as a bequest.Modern historians, such as Farhad Daftary, believe that these stories are most likely attempts to justify and retroactively legitimize what was in effect a coup d'état by al-Afdal.