Abbasids

The Abbasid caliphate was founded by the descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad's youngest uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, in Harran in 750 CE and shifted its capital in 762 to Baghdad. It flourished for two centuries, but slowly went into decline with the rise to power of the Turkish army it had created, the Mamluks. Within 150 years of gaining control of Persia, the caliphs were forced to cede power to local dynastic emirs who only nominally acknowledged their authority. The caliphate also lost the Western provinces of Al Andalus, ####Maghreb and Ifriqiya to an Umayyad prince, the Aghlabids and the Fatimids, respectively. The Abbasids' rule was briefly ended for three years in 1258, when Hulagu Khan, the Mongol khan, sacked Baghdad, resuming in Mamluk Egypt in 1261, from where they continued to claim authority in religious matters until 1519, when power was formally transferred to the Ottomans and the capital relocated to Constantinople.
The Abbasid caliphate was founded by the descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad's youngest uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, in Harran in 750 CE and shifted its capital in 762 to Baghdad. It flourished for two centuries, but slowly went into decline with the rise to power of the Turkish army it had created, the Mamluks. Within 150 years of gaining control of Persia, the caliphs were forced to cede power to local dynastic emirs who only nominally acknowledged their authority. The caliphate also lost the Western provinces of Al Andalus, Maghreb and Ifriqiya to an Umayyad prince, the Aghlabids and the Fatimids, respectively.
The Abbasids' rule was briefly ended for three years in 1258, when Hulagu Khan, the Mongol khan, sacked Baghdad, resuming in Mamluk Egypt in 1261, from where they continued to claim authority in religious matters until 1519, when power was formally transferred to the Ottomans and the capital relocated to Constantinople.
During the reign of Marwan II, this opposition culminated in the rebellion of Ibrahim the Imam, the fourth in descent from Abbas. Supported by the province of Khorasan, Iran, he achieved considerable successes, but was captured in the year 747 and died in prison; some hold that he was assassinated. The quarrel was taken up by his brother Abdallah, known by the name of Abu al-'Abbas as-Saffah, who defeated the Umayyads in 750 in the Battle of the Zab near the Great Zab and was subsequently proclaimed caliph.
Immediately after their victory Abu al-'Abbas as-Saffah sent his forces to North Africa and Central Asia, where his forces fought against Tang expansion during the Battle of Talas (the zealous Abbasids were known to their opponents as the: "Black robed ones"). After the battle many captive Chinese craftsmen introduced the world's first recorded paper mill in Baghdad, thus beginning a new era of intellectual rebirth in the Abbasid domain. Within 10 years the Abbasids built another renowned paper mill in the Umayyad capital of Córdoba in Spain.
The Islamic Golden Age was inaugurated by the middle of the 8th century by the ascension of the Abbasid Caliphate and the transfer of the capital from Damascus to Baghdad. The Abbassids were influenced by the Qur'anic injunctions and hadith such as "the ink of a scholar is more holy than the blood of a martyr" stressing the value of knowledge. During this period the Muslim world became the unrivaled intellectual center for science, philosophy, medicine and education as the Abbasids championed the cause of knowledge and established the House of Wisdom in Baghdad; where both Muslim and non-Muslim scholars sought to translate and gather all the world's knowledge into Arabic. Many classic works of antiquity that would otherwise have been lost were translated into Arabic and Persian and later in turn translated into Turkish, Hebrew and Latin. During this period the Muslim world was a cauldron of cultures which collected, synthesized and significantly advanced the knowledge gained from the ancient Roman, Chinese, Indian, Persian, Egyptian, North African, Greek and Byzantine civilizations.
The reigns of Harun al-Rashid (786 – 809) and his successors fostered an age of great intellectual achievement. In large part, this was the result of the schismatic forces that had undermined the Umayyad regime, which relied on the assertion of the superiority of Arab culture as part of its claim to legitimacy, and the Abbasids' welcoming of support from non-Arab Muslims. It is well established that the Abbasid caliphs modeled their administration on that of the Sassanids.
Abbasid Relations with the Saljuq Dynasty
With the Buwayhid dynasty on the wane, a vacuum was created that was eventually filled by the dynasty of Oghuz Turks known as the Saljuqs. When the amir and former slave Basasiri took up the Shia Fatimid banner in Baghdad in 1058, the caliph al-Qa'im was unable to defeat him without outside help. Toghril Beg, the Saljuq sultan, restored Baghdad to Sunni rule and took Iraq for his dynasty. Once again, the Abbasids were forced to deal with a military power that they could not match, though the Abbasid caliph remained the titular head of the Islamic community. The succeeding sultans Alp Arslan and Malikshah, as well as their vizier Nizam al-Mulk took up residence in Persia, but held power over the Abbasids in Baghdad. When the dynasty began to weaken in the 12th century, the Abbasids gained greater independence once again.
Abbasid Caliphs in Baghdad
• Al-Mansur 754 – 775
• Al-Mahdi 775 – 785
• Al-Hadi 785 – 786
• Harun al-Rashid 786 – 809
• Al-Amin 809 – 813
• Al-Ma'mun 813 – 833
• Al-Mu'tasim 833 – 842
• Al-Wathiq 842 – 847
• Al-Mutawakkil 847 – 861
• Al-Muntasir 861 – 862
• Al-Musta'in 862 – 866
• Al-Mu'tazz 866 – 869
• Al-Muhtadi 869 – 870
• Al-Mu'tamid 870 – 892
• Al-Mu'tadid 892 – 902
• Al-Muktafi 902 – 908
• Al-Muqtadir 908 – 932
• Al-Qahir 932 – 934
• Ar-Radi 934 – 940
• Al-Muttaqi 940 – 944
• Al-Mustakfi 944 – 946
• Al-Muti 946 – 974
• At-Ta'i 974 – 991
• Al-Qadir 991 – 1031
• Al-Qa'im 1031–1075
• Al-Muqtadi 1075–1094
• Al-Mustazhir 1094–1118
• Al-Mustarshid 1118–1135
• Ar-Rashid 1135–1136
• Al-Muqtafi 1136–1160
• Al-Mustanjid 1160–1170
• Al-Mustadi 1170–1180
• An-Nasir 1180–1225
• Az-Zahir 1225–1226
• Al-Mustansir 1226–1242
• Al-Musta'sim 1242–1258
Abbasid Caliphs in Cairo
• Al-Mustansir 1261–1262
• Al-Hakim I (Cairo) 1262–1302
• Al-Mustakfi I of Cairo 1303–1340
• Al-Wathiq I 1340–1341
• Al-Hakim II 1341–1352
• Al-Mu'tadid I 1352–1362
• Al-Mutawakkil I 1362–1383
• Al-Wathiq II 1383–1386
• Al-Mu'tasim 1386–1389
• Al-Mutawakkil I (restored) 1389–1406
• Al-Musta'in 1406–1414
• Al-Mu'tadid II 1414–1441
• Al-Mustakfi II 1441–1451
• Al-Qa'im 1451–1455
• Al-Mustanjid 1455–1479
• Al-Mutawakkil II 1479–1497
• Al-Mustamsik 1497–1508
• Al-Mutawakkil III 1508–1517

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