Al-Mustansir (Baghdad)

Al-Mustansir Bi'llah (full name:Abû Ja`far al-Mustansir bi-llah al-Mansûr ben az-Zâhir[3] Surname Al-Mustansir)[4] was the penultimate Caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate from 1226 to 1242. He succeeded Caliph Az-Zahir in the year 1226.

Abû Ja`far Al-Mustansir bi-llah al-Mansûr ben az-Zâhir ابو جعفر المستنصر باللہ المنصور بن الظاھر
Khalīfah Amir al-Mu'minin
36th Caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad
Reign	10 July 1226 – 5 December 1242
Predecessor	az-Zahir
Successor	al-Musta'sim
Born	17 February 1192 [1] Baghdad, Abbasid Caliphate, now Iraq
Died	5 December 1242 (aged 50) Baghdad, Abbasid Caliphate, now Iraq
Consort	Shahan, Hajir[2]
Issue	Al-Musta'sim
Dynasty	Abbasid
Father	az-Zahir
Mother	Zahra
Religion	Sunni Islam

Biography

Al-Mustansir was born in Baghdad on 1192. 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.[5]

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.[6]

Al-Mustansir died on 5 December 1242.[7] His son Al-Musta'sim succeeded him as the thirty-seventh and last Caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate.

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. Arabic : abū jaʿfar al-mustanṣir bi-llāh al-manṣūr ben aẓ-ẓāhir,
   أبو جعفر المسنتصر بالله المنصور بن محمد الظاهر
4. Arabic : Al-Mustanṣir, المسنتصر بالله
5. Hillenbrand, Robert (1994). Islamic architecture : form, function, and meaning (Casebound ed.). New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0231101325. OCLC 30319450.
6. Bloom, Jonathan M. (1997). Islamic arts. Blair, Sheila. London: Phaidon Press. ISBN 9780714831763. OCLC 37265778.
7. 10 Jumada ath-thani 640 A.H.

Sources

• This text is adapted from William Muir's public domain, The Caliphate: Its Rise, Decline, and Fall.
• Al-Maqrizi, Al Selouk Leme'refatt Dewall al-Melouk, Dar al-kotob, 1997.