Al-Mustansir II

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

Abu'l-Qasim Ahmad al-Mustansir (Arabic: أبو القاسم أحمد المستنصر; c. 1210 – 28 November 1261) was the first Abbasid caliph to rule in Cairo and who was subservient to the Mamluk Sultanate. He reigned from June 1261 to 28 November 1261.

Abu'l-Qasim Ahmad al-Mustansir أبو القاسم أحمد المستنصر
1st Caliph of Cairo
Tenure	13 June 1261 – 28 November 1261
Predecessor	Al-Musta'sim (as Abbasid caliph in Baghdad)
Successor	Al-Hakim I
Born	1210s Baghdad, Iraq
Died	28 November 1261 Fallujah, Hit, Iraq
Father	al-Zahir
Mother	Hayat
Religion	Sunni Islam

Life

Abu'l-Qasim Ahmad was a member of the Abbasid house who was imprisoned by his nephew the Caliph al-Musta'sim in Baghdad. Following the Sack of Baghdad by the Mongols in 1258, he escaped to the Arab tribes in the desert, where he hid out for over three years, until after the Mamluks had driven the Mongols from Syria in 1260. After making his way to Cairo, Mamluk Egypt, al-Mustansir was installed as Caliph there by the Mamluk Sultan Baybars I in 1261. He was sent with an army to the east to recover Baghdad, but was killed in a Mongol ambush near al-Anbar (near Falluja in modern Iraq) in 1261, and was succeeded, though not immediately, by his rather distant Abbasid kinsman (and former rival caliph, having been proclaimed by the ruler of Aleppo) Al-Hakim I. Though he was not the direct ancestor of any of them, the line of Cairo caliphs Ahmad al-Mustansir founded lasted until the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517, but they were little more than religious figureheads for the Mamluks.

The genealogy of the Abbasids including their rival Zaydi imams

Abbasids   Caliphs of the Abbasid Caliphate   Caliphs of Cairo   Zaydi imams ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib ibn ʿHāshīm ʾAbū Ṭālib ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib Abū'l-Fādl al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib ʿAlīyyū'l-Murtaḍžā (1st Imām of Kaysāniyyā, Zaydīyyā, Imāmiyyā) Hibr al-Ummah ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-ʿAbbās Khātam al-Nabiyyin Abū'l-Qāsīm Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh Al-Ḥasan al-Mujtabā (2nd Imām of Kaysāniyyā, Zaydīyyā, Imāmiyyā) Hussayn ibn Ali (3rd Imām of Kaysāniyyā, Zaydīyyā, Imāmiyyā) Abū'l-Qāsīm Muḥammad al-Hānafīyya (4th Imām of Kaysāniyyā) ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Sajjad Al-Ḥasan al-Mu'thannā (5th Imām of Zaydiyyā) Ali al-Sajjad (Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn) (4th Imām of Zaydiyyā, Imāmiyyā) Abū Hāshīm ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad (5th Imām of Hāsheemīyyā) Muḥammad "al-Imām" (6th Imām of Hāsheemīyyā) 716/7 - 743 ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAlī (Governor of Syria) 750–754 Ṣāliḥ ibn ʿAlī (Governor of Egypt) 750–751 ʿAbd Allāh al-Kāmīl ibn al-Ḥasan al-Mu'thannā Zayd ibn Ali (6th Imām of Zaydiyyā) Ibrāhim (Ebrāheem) "al-Imām" (7th Imām of Hāsheemīyyā) 743 - 749 Abū Jāʿfar ʿAbd Allāh al-Mānṣūr (2) r. 754–775 Abū'l-ʿAbbās ʿAbd Allāh as-Saffāh (1) r. 750–754 Mūsā ibn Muḥammad "al-Imām" Nafsū'zZakiyya (First elected caliph by Ibrāhim, Mānṣūr, Saffāh, Imām Mālīk & Abū Ḥanīfa) (8th Imām of Zaydiyyā) Yahya ibn Zayd (7th Imām of Zaydiyyā) Abū Muslīm al-Khurāsānī (Governor of Khurasan) 748–755 Muḥammad al-Mahdī (3) r. 775–785 Jāʿfar (Wali al-Ahd & Governor of Mosul) 762–764 ʿĪsā ibn Mūsā (Governor of Kufa) 750–765 ʿAbd Allāh Shāh Ghāzī (ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad) (10th Imām of Zaydiyyā) Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Kāmīl ibn al-Ḥasan al-Mu'thannā ibn Ḥasan al-Mujtabā (9th Imām of Zaydiyyā) Al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī al-ʿĀbid ibn al-Ḥasan al-Mu'thallath ibn Ḥasan al-Mu'thannā (12th Imām of Zaydiyyā) Hārūn ar-Rāshīd (5) r. 786–809 ʿMūsā al-Hādī (4) r. 785–786 (The Governors) Mūsā (Kufa, Egypt & Medina) Ismā'īl (Egypt) Dā'wūd (Medina) Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Kāmīl ibn al-Ḥasan II (Emir of Tlemcen) (Sulaymanid dynasty of Western Algeria) Yaḥyā ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Kāmīl ibn al-Ḥasan al-Mu'thannā (14th Imām of Zaydiyyā) Ibrāhīm Ṭabāṭabā ibn Ismāʿīl al-Dībādj ibn Ibrāhīm al-Ghamr ibn al-Ḥasan al-Mu'thannā Muḥammad al-Mu'tasim (8) r. 833–842 Abd Allāh al-Ma'mun (7) r. 813–833 Muḥammad al-Amin (6) r. 809–813 Sūlaymān ibn ʿAbd Allāh as-Sālih ibn Mūsā al-Jawn ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Kāmīl ibn al-Ḥasan al-Mu'thannā Idrīs the Elder ibn ʿAbd Allāh (Idrisid dynasty of Morocco) (15th Imām of Zaydiyyā) Muḥammad ibn IbrāhīmṬabāṭabā (16th Imām of Zaydiyyā) Jāʿfar al-Mutawakkil (10) r. 847–861 Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Mu'tasim Hārūn al-Wathiq (9) r. 842–847 Mūsā II ibn ʿAbd Allāh as-Sâlih ibn Mūsā al-Jawn ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Kāmīl Idrīs ibn Idrīs (2nd Zaydī Imām of Idrisids in Morocco) Muḥammad al-Muntasir (11) r. 861–862 Ṭalḥa al-Muwaffaq (Regent) 870–891 Aḥmad al-Musta'in (12) r. 862–866 Muḥammad al-Muhtadi (14) r. 869–870 Ismāʿīl ibn Yūsūf Al-Ukhayḍhir ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Mūsā al-Jawn ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Kāmīl ibn Ḥasan al-Mu'thannā Al-Qāsīm ar-Rassī ibn IbrāhīmṬabāṭabā (19th Imām of Zaydiyyā) Ibrahim al-Mu'ayyad (Wali al-Ahd & Governor of Syria) 850–861 Aḥmad al-Mu'tadid (16) r. 892–902 Muḥammad al-Mu'tazz (13) r. 866–869 Aḥmad al-Mu'tamid (15) r. 870–892 Muḥammad ibn Yūsūf Al-Ukhayḍhir (1st Zaydī Imām of Ukhaydhirites in Najd and Al-Yamama) Abūʾl-Ḥusayn Al-Hādī ilāʾl-Ḥaqq Yaḥyā ibn al-Ḥusayn (1st Zaydī Imām of Rassids in Yemen) ʿAlī al-Muktafī (17) r. 902–908 Jāʿfar al-Muqtadir (18) r. 908–929, 929–932 Muḥammad al-Qāhir (19) r. 929, 932–934 Jāʿfar al-Mufawwid (Wali al-Ahd) 875–892 Zayd ibn al-Ḥasan al-Mujtabā ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ʿAbd Allāh al-Mustakfī (22) r. 944–946 Al-Faḍl al-Mutīʿ (23) r. 946–974 Ishāq ibn Jāʿfar al-Muqtadir Muḥammad al-Rādī (20) r. 934–940 Ībrāhīm al-Muttaqī (21) r. 940–944 Ḥasan ibn Zayd ibn al-Ḥasan al-Mujtabā ibn ʿAlīyyū'l-Murtaḍžā ʿUmar al-Ashraf ibn ʿAlī Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn ibn al-Ḥusayn ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Ṭāʾiʿ (24) r. 974–991 Aḥmad al-Qāʿdīr (25) r. 991–1031 Ismāʿīl ibn Ḥasan ibn Zayd ibn al-Ḥasan al-Mujtabā ʿAlī ibn ʿUmar al-Ashraf ibn ʿAlī Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn Al-Ḥusayn Dhu'l-Dam'a ibn Zayd ibn ʿAlī Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn ʿAbd Allāh al-Qāʿīm (26) r. 1031–1075 Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl ibn Ḥasan ibn Zayd Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿUmar al-Ashraf Yaḥyā ibn al-Ḥusayn Dhu'l-Dam'a ibn Zayd Muḥammad Dhakīrat ad-Dīn (Wali al-Ahd) 1039–1056 Zayd ibn Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl ibn Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿUmar al-Ashraf ʿUmar ibn Yaḥyā ibn al-Ḥusayn Dhu'l-Dam'a ʿAbd Allāh al-Mūqtādī (27) r. 1075–1094 Al-Dāʿī al-Kabīr Hasan ibn Zayd (1st Zaydī Imām of Zaydīds in Tabaristan) Al-Dāʿī al-Ṣaghīr Muhammad ibn Zayd (2nd Zaydī Imām of Zaydīds in Tabaristan) Yaḥyā ibn ʿUmar (20th Imām of Zaydiyyā in Samarra) Aḥmad al-Mūstāzhīr (28) r. 1094–1118 Al-Nāṣir liʾl-Ḥāqq Hasan al-Utrush (3rd Zaydī Imām of Zaydīds in Tabaristan) Al-Faḍl al-Mūstārshīd (29) r. 1118–1135 Al-Mānṣūr al-Rāshīd (30) r. 1135–1136 Muḥammad al-Mūqtāfī (31) r. 1136–1160 Alī ibn al-Faḍl al-Qabī Yūsuf al-Mūstānjīd (32) r. 1160–1170 al-Hāsān ibn Alī Al-Hāssān al-Mūstādī' (33) r. 1170–1180 Abū Bakr ibn al-Hāsān Aḥmad al-Nāsīr (34) r. 1180–1225 Abi 'Alī al-Hāsān ibn Abū Bakr Muḥammad az-Zāhīr (35) r. 1225–1226 Malīka'zZāhīr Rūkn ad-Dīn Baybars (Mamluk Sultanate Sultan of Egypt) r. 1260–1277 Al-Mānsūr al-Mūstānsīr (36) r. 1226–1242 Abū'l-Qāsim Aḥmad al-Mūstānsīr (1) r. 1261 Abū'l-ʿAbbās Aḥmad al-Hakim I (2) r. 1262–1302 ʿAbd Allāh al-Mūstā'sīm (37) r. 1242–1258 Abū'r-Rabīʿ Sulaymān al-Mustakfī I (3) r. 1302–1340 Aḥmad ibn Aḥmad al-Ḥākim bi-amr Allāh Abū'l-ʿAbbās Aḥmad al-Hakim II (5) r. 1341–1352 Abū'l-Fatḥ Abū Bakr al-Mu'tadid I (6) r. 1352–1362 Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm al-Wāṯiq I (4) r. 1340–1341 Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad al-Mutawakkil I (7) r. 1362–1377, 1377–1383, 1389–1406 Abū Yāḥyā Zakariyāʾ al-Musta'sim (8) r. 1377, 1386–1389 Abū Ḥafs ʿUmar al-Wāṯiq II (9) r. 1383–1386 Abū'l-Faḍl al-ʿAbbās al-Musta'īn (10) r. 1406–1414 Sultan of Egypt r. 1412 Abū'l-Fatḥ Dāwud al-Mu'tadīd II (11) r. 1414–1441 Abū'r-Rabīʿ Sulaymān al-Mustakfī II (12) r. 1441–1451 Yaʿqūb ibn Muḥammad al-Mutawakkil ʿalā'Llāh Abū'l-Baqāʾ Ḥamza al-Qāʾim (13) r. 1451–1455 Abū'l-Maḥāsin Yūsuf al-Mustanjid (14) r. 1455–1479 Abū'l-ʿIzz ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Mutawakkil II (15) r. 1479–1497 Abū'ṣ-Ṣabr Yaʿqūb al-Mustamsik (16) r. 1497–1508, 1516–1517 Muḥammad al-Mutawakkil III (17) r. 1508–1516, 1517

References

• "Biography of Al-Mustansir II" (in Arabic). Islampedia.com. Archived from the original on 2008-06-11.

Bibliography

• Amitai-Preisss, Reuven. Mongols and Mamluks: The Mamluk-Ilkhanid War, 1260-1281. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Pp. 56–60, 62.
• Garcin, Jean-Claude (1967). "Histoire, opposition, politique et piétisme traditionaliste dans le Ḥusn al Muḥādarat de Suyûti" [History, opposition, politics and traditionalistic pietism in Suyuti's Ḥusn al Muḥādarat] (PDF). Annales Islamologiques (in French). 7. Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale: 33–90. doi:10.3406/anisl.1967.909. S2CID 259055409. Archived from the original (PDF, 14.62 MB) on 2011-07-24. Retrieved 2010-07-22.
• Glubb, John Bagot. Soldiers of Fortune: The Story of the Mamlukes. New York: Dorset Press, 1988. Pp. 66, 73–75.
• Holt, P. M. "al-Mustansir (II)." The Encyclopaedia of Islam. 2nd ed. Vol. VII. P. 729.
• Holt, P. M. (1984). "Some Observations on the 'Abbāsid Caliphate of Cairo". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 47 (3). University of London: 501–507. doi:10.1017/s0041977x00113710. JSTOR 618882. S2CID 161092185.

Al-Mustansir II Mamluk Abbasid dynasty Born:  ? Died: 28 November 1261
Sunni Islam titles
Recreated Baghdad Caliphate destroyed due to Mongol conquest Title last held by Al-Musta'sim	Caliph of Cairo 13 June 1261 – 28 November 1261	Succeeded by Al-Hakim I