An-Nasir (Abbasid Caliph)
| Al-Nasir li-Din Allah الناصر لدين الله |
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|---|---|
| 34th Caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad |
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| Reign | 28 March 1180 – 5 October 1225 |
| Predecessor | al-Mustadi |
| Successor | az-Zahir |
| Born | 6 August 1158 |
| Died | 5 October 1225 (aged 67) |
| Consort | Saljuki Khatun |
| Issue | Zamurrad Khatun az-Zahir |
| Father | Al-Mustadi |
| Mother | Zumurrud |
| Religion | Islam |
Al-Nasir li-Din Allah (6 August 1158 – 5 October 1225) (Arabic: الناصر لدين الله) was the 34th Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad from 1180 until his death. His laqab literally means The Victor for the Religion of God. He attempted to restore the caliphate to its ancient dominant role and achieved a surprising amount of success, despite the fact that the caliphate had long been militarily subordinated to other dynasties. He not only held Baghdad (the capital of the Abbasid empire), but extended his dominion into Mesopotamia and Persia. According to the historian, Angelika Hartmann, Al-Nasir was the last effective Abbassid Caliph.
Besides his occasional conquests, he consistently held Iraq from Tikrit to the Persian Gulf without interruption. His long reign of forty-seven years is chiefly marked by ambitious and corrupt dealings with the Tartar chiefs, and by his hazardous invocation of the Mongols, which so soon brought his own dynasty to an end. But in his day, there was comparative peace at Baghdad; learning flourished; while refuges for the poor, and other works of public interest, were encouraged.
Al-Nasir was the son of Caliph Al-Mustadi and a Turkish umm walad called Zumurrud (Emerald). His reign was unusual for the rise of the futuwwa groups in his reign, connected to Baghdad's long-standing ayyarun. These urban social groups had long existed in Baghdad and elsewhere, and they were often involved in urban conflicts, especially sectarian riots. Al-Nasir made them into an instrument of his government, reorganizing them along Sufi lines and ideology.
In the early years of his caliphate, his goal was to crush the Seljuq power and replace it with his own. He incited rebellion against the Seljuq Sultan of Persia, Toghrul III. The Khwarizm Shah, Ala ad-Din Tekish, at his instigation, attacked the Seljuq forces, and defeated them in 1194; Toghrul was killed and his head exposed in the caliph's palace. Tekish, recognized now as supreme ruler of the East, bestowed on the caliph certain provinces of Persia that had been held by the Seljuqs.
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