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al-Mansur Orders the Tall Qalansuwa Caps

إلزام المنصور بالقلانس الطوال

c. 770 CE · 153 AH

In year 153 al-Mansur obliged his subjects to wear the tall qalansuwa, which they fashioned from reeds and paper and wore in black; Abu Dulama quipped: 'We hoped our imam would add more — and the chosen imam added to the qalansuwas; you see them on men's heads like Jews' money-boxes cloaked in burnooses' 1.

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Era
The Early Abbasid Caliphate
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In time

760770780 c.
The Early Abbasid Caliphate

Overview

Al-Suyuti relates that in 153 AH al-Mansur required his subjects to wear tall caps (qalansuwa). They made them of reed and paper and wore them black. 2

Al-Suyuti quotes verses by Abu Dulama on this matter, which contain a mocking comparison of the caps. The text is in the source and is not reproduced here. 2

Connections

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Had participant
Abu Ja'far al-Mansur

People and things also explored

The Entry of Abd al-Rahman al-Dakhil into al-Andalus· Beginning of the codification of knowledge· The Building of the Hashimite City at Kufa· Death of al-Mansur· Deposition of Isa ibn Musa from the succession· The Fall of Qaliqala, 133, and its Rebuilding· The Founding of Madinat al-Salam (Baghdad)· The Building of al-Rafiqa

Sources

  1. Tarikh al-Khulafa — al-Suyuti (Dar al-Minhaj edition) , p. 426
  2. Tarikh al-Khulafa — al-Suyuti (Dar al-Minhaj edition) , p.426
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “al-Mansur Orders the Tall Qalansuwa Caps”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/mansur-qalansuwa-edict/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-22.

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The Entry of Abd al-Rahman al-Dakhil into al-Andalus

In year 138 Abd al-Rahman ibn Muawiya ibn Hisham the Umayyad entered al-Andalus and seized it; his days extended and al-Andalus remained in his descendants' hands past the year 400. A man of learning and justice whose mother was Berber, they said: 'The world is ruled by two sons of Berber women — al-Mansur and Abd al-Rahman ibn Muawiya.' By year 148 nothing lay outside al-Mansur's sway but al-Andalus, held by Abd al-Rahman, who did not take the title Commander of the Faithful but only amir — as did his sons.