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One of the first major changes effected by Abbasid rule was the move of the caliphate's center of power from Syria to Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq). This was closer to the Persian mawali support base of the Abbasids and the move addressed their demand for reduced Arab dominance in the empire. [18] However, no definitive capital was yet selected.
Al-Mu'tasim, (833–842) was an Abbasid caliph, patron of the art and a powerful military leader. Al-Wathiq, (r. 842–847) was an Abbasid caliph, he was well educated and with a considerable interest in scholarship. Al-Mutawakkil, (r. 847–861) was the tenth Abbasid caliph, under his reign the Abbasid Empire reached its territorial height.
Support for the Abbasid revolution came from people of diverse backgrounds, with almost all levels of society supporting armed opposition to Umayyad rule. [9] This was especially pronounced among Muslims of non-Arab descent, [10] [11] [12] though even Arab Muslims resented Umayyad rule and centralized authority over their nomadic lifestyles.
In the mid-12th century, the Abbasids regained their independence from the Seljuks, but the revival of Abbasid power ended with the Sack of Baghdad by the Mongols in 1258. Most Abbasid caliphs were born to a concubine mother, known as umm al-walad (Arabic: أم الولد, lit. 'mother of the child').
The Mongols killed most of the city's inhabitants, including the Abbasid Caliph Al-Musta'sim, and destroyed large sections of the city. The canals and dykes forming the city's irrigation system were destroyed. The sack of Baghdad put an end to the Abbasid Caliphate, a blow from which the Islamic civilization never fully recovered. The Mongols ...
Abbasid rule returned between 905 and 969, the first 30 years of which was direct rule from Baghdad (905–935), and the rest was through the Ikhshidid governors of Egypt (935–969). [64] The mother of Caliph al-Muqtadir (r. 908–932) had wooden porches built under all the city gates and repaired the Dome of the Rock. [61]
Even though the Fatimids ultimately failed in their ambitions—their rule was ended by Saladin in 1171, who restored Sunnism and Abbasid suzerainty to Egypt [149] —they transformed Egypt, and their capital, Cairo, founded to be the seat of a universal empire, has since then been one of the main centres of the Islamic world. [150]
Al-Qadir's forty-year rule, followed by a similarly long reign under al-Qa'im (1031–1075) that was in many ways a continuation of his own, restored stability to the Abbasid caliphate, [60] and marked the re-emergence of the Abbasid caliphs as independent political actors. Although their direct authority was limited to Baghdad and its environs ...