In assessing Ishaq's legacy, modern historians generally consider him as being a highly useful and trustworthy servant of the caliphs. His administration of Baghdad is credited as having secured the continued loyalty of the city's residents to the central government, especially after the seat of the caliphs had been moved to Samarra, and he acted as a counterweight to the rising power of the Turkish generals in the capital, a role that his successors would continue to follow after his death. At the same time, he helped to strengthen and maintain the interests of the Tahirids in Iraq, and acted as their agent in exercising influence over the caliphal court.