Al-Mustansir I

This article is about the 13th-century Abbasid caliph in Baghdad. For the Abbasid caliph in Cairo, see al-Mustansir II. For the 11th-century Fatimid caliph, see al-Mustansir Billah. For other uses, see al-Mustansir (disambiguation).

Al-Mustansir Bi'llah (full name:Abū Jā`far al-Mānsūr al-Mustansir bi'Llah bin az-Zâhir^[4] surname al-Mustansir),^[5] (17 February 1192 – 2 December 1242) was the Caliph of the Abbasid dynasty from 1226 to 1242. He succeeded Caliph Az-Zahir in the year 1226 and was the penultimate caliph to rule from Baghdad.

Al-Mānsūr al-Mustansir bi-llah المنصور المستنصر بالله
Khalīfah Amir al-Mu'minin
Dirham of al-Mustansir
36th Caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad
Reign	10 July 1226 – 5 December 1242
Predecessor	al-Zahir
Successor	al-Musta'sim
Born	17 February 1192[1] Baghdad, Abbasid Caliphate, (now Iraq)
Died	5 December 1242 (aged 50) Baghdad, Abbasid Caliphate
Burial	Baghdad
Consort	Shahan Hajir[2]
Issue	Al-Musta'sim
Names Abu Ja`far al-Mansūr al-Mustansir bi-llah ibn az-Zâhir
Dynasty	Abbasid
Father	al-Zāhīr
Mother	Zahra
Religion	Sunni Islam

The name of Caliph al-Mustansir appears in this contemporary painting from folio 164v of the Maqamat al-Hariri, 1237 edition (BNF Arabe 5847).^[3]

Biography

Al-Mustansir was born in Baghdad on 1192. He was the son of Abu Nasr Muhammad (future caliph Al-Zahir). His mother was a Turkish Umm walad.^[6][7] called Zahra. His full name was Mansur ibn Muhammad al-Zahir and his Kunya was Abu Jaʿfar. At the time of his birth, his father was a prince. When his father ascended to the throne in 1225. His father, lowered the taxes of Iraq, and built a strong army to resist invasions. He died on 10 July 1226, nine months after his accession.

On his father's death in 1226 he has succeeded his father Az-Zahir as the thirty-sixth Abbasid caliph in Baghdad. Al-Mustansir is particularly known for establishing Mustansiriya Madrasah (currently a part of the Al-Mustansiriya University) in 1227/32/34. The Madrasah, at the time, taught many subjects including medicine, mathematics, literature, grammar and Islamic religious studies, becoming a prominent and high-ranking center for Islamic studies in Baghdad.^[8]

The Courtyard of Mustansiriya Medical College

The Madrasas during the Abbasid period were used as the predominant instrument to foster the spread of Islamic thought as well as a way to extend the founder's pious ideals.^[9]

The ruler of Erbil, Muzaffar ad-Din Gökböri was being without a male heir, Gökböri willed Erbil to the Abbasid caliph al-Mustansir.^[10] After the death of Gökböri in 1233, the Erbil city came under Abbasid control.

Al-Mustansir died on 5 December 1242.^[11] His son Al-Musta'sim succeeded him as the thirty-seventh and last Caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate.

Family

One of Al-Mustansir's concubines was Shahan. She was a Greek, and had been formerly a slave of Khata Khatun, the daughter of the commander Sunqur al-Nasiri the Tall and the wife of the commander Jamal al-Din Baklak al-Nasiri. After Al-Mustansir's accession to the throne, Khata presented Shahan to him as a gift, as part of a group of slaves. Shahan alone among them became his concubine and favourite.^[12] Another of his concubines was Hajir. She was the mother of the future Caliph Al-Musta'sim.^[13]

See also

• Sixth Crusade (1228–1229), a military expedition to recapture the city of Jerusalem from Muslims.

References

1. Ibn Kathir: Albidayah Wa-Nahaya, V. XIII. p. 147
2. Al-Hawadith al-Jami'a . Ibn al-Fuwaṭi
3. Contadini, Anna (1 January 2012). A World of Beasts: A Thirteenth-Century Illustrated Arabic Book on Animals (the Kitāb Na't al-Ḥayawān) in the Ibn Bakhtīshū' Tradition. Brill. p. 155. doi:10.1163/9789004222656_005.
4. Arabic : abū jʿāfar al-mustanṣir bi-llāh al-manṣūr bīn Muḥammad aẓ-ẓāhir,
   أبو جعفر المسنتصر بالله المنصور بن محمد الظاهر
5. Arabic : Al-Mustanṣir, المسنتصر بالله
6. Rizvi, Sayyid Saeed Akhtar; Shou, Salman (2005). Utumwa: Mtazamo wa Kiislamu na wa Nchi za Magharibi. Al-Itrah Foundation. p. 64. ISBN 978-9987-9022-4-8.
7. Hasan, M. (1998). History of Islam: Classical period, 571-1258 C.E. Islamic Publications. p. 304.
8. Hillenbrand, Robert (1994). Islamic architecture : form, function, and meaning (Casebound ed.). New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0231101325. OCLC 30319450.
9. Bloom, Jonathan M. (1997). Islamic arts. Blair, Sheila. London: Phaidon Press. ISBN 9780714831763. OCLC 37265778.
10. Morray, p. 85
11. 10 Jumada ath-thani 640 A.H.
12. al-Sāʿī, Ibn; Toorawa, Shawkat M.; Bray, Julia (2017). كتاب جهات الأئمة الخلفاء من الحرائر والإماء المسمى نساء الخلفاء: Women and the Court of Baghdad. Library of Arabic Literature. NYU Press. p. 71. ISBN 978-1-4798-6679-3.
13. Rizvi, Sayyid Saeed Akhtar; Shou, Salman (2005). Utumwa: Mtazamo wa Kiislamu na wa Nchi za Magharibi. Al-Itrah Foundation. p. 64. ISBN 978-9987-9022-4-8.

Sources

• This text is adapted from William Muir's public domain, The Caliphate: Its Rise, Decline, and Fall.
• Hasan, M. (1998). History of Islam: Classical period, 571-1258 C.E. History of Islam. Islamic Publications. p. 304
• Al-Maqrizi, Al Selouk Leme'refatt Dewall al-Melouk, Dar al-kotob, 1997.
• Morray D.W. (1994) An Ayyubid Notable and His World: Ibn Al-ʻAdīm and Aleppo as Portrayed in His Biographical Dictionary of People Associated with the City, Brill. Leiden. ISBN 9004099565
• Al-Sāʿī, Ibn; Toorawa, Shawkat M.; Bray, Julia (2017). كتاب جهات الأئمة الخلفاء من الحرائر والإماء المسمى نساء الخلفاء: Women and the Court of Baghdad. Library of Arabic Literature.

Al-Mustansir I Abbasid dynasty Cadet branch of the Banu Hashim Born: 17 February 1192 Died: 5 December 1242
Sunni Islam titles
Preceded by Az-Zahir	Caliph of Islam Abbasid Caliph 10 July 1226 – 5 December 1242	Succeeded by Al-Musta'sim