al-Mustansir bi'llah II Ahmad ibn al-Zahir

Overview

Al-Mustansir billah II, Abu al-Qasim Ahmad ibn al-Zahir, the first of the Abbasid caliphs in Egypt. ²

The allegiance in Cairo

He had been imprisoned in Baghdad, and was freed when the Tatars took it. He fled to the Arabs of Iraq. He then came to Baybars, who gave him the allegiance on the thirteenth of Rajab 659 AH, after the caliphate had been vacant for three and a half years. ²

Setting out for Iraq

He decided to head to Iraq, and the sultan equipped him with a million dinars and sixty thousand dirhams. He took al-Hadhitha and Hit, then met the Tatars. ²

He was lost in the battle on the third of Muharram 660 AH. It was said that he was killed, and it was said that he survived and fled. ²

al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah Ahmad al-Qabi

Second Cairo caliph [661–701], of al-Mustarshid's line — he escaped the sack to the Arabs, fought the Tatars at Ana, Haditha, Hit and Anbar, reigned first at Aleppo where Abd al-Halim ibn Taymiyya swore him, then ruled Cairo forty years, first Abbasid buried by Sayyida Nafisa. At his Cairo bay'a on 8 Muharram 661 Baybars extended his hand and swore first, then the notables, and al-Hakim invested Baybars with the sultanate; next day's khutba opened 'Praise God who raised for the Abbasid house a pillar and a backer' — and the caliph was sequestered at the Citadel of the Mountain in 663.

al-Mustansir bi'llah II Ahmad ibn al-Zahir

At a glance

Life in time

Overview

The allegiance in Cairo

Setting out for Iraq

Connections

People and things also explored

Sources

People

al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah Ahmad al-Qabi