al-Mustansir II.

Abu al-Qasim Ahmad al-Mustansir bi-llah , or al-Mustansir II. ( Arabic أبو القاسم أحمد المستنصر بالله الثاني, DMG Abū l-Qāsim Aḥmad al-Mustanṣir bi-llāh aṯ-ṯānī ; † November 27, 1261 ), was the first caliph from the Abbasid dynasty to reside in Cairo .

Al-Mustansir was a nephew of Caliph al-Mustansir I and the first cousin of al-Mustasim , the last resident of Baghdad . In 1258 he survived the Abbasid massacre, which the Mongol ruler Hulegü had ordered after the conquest of Baghdad. In the summer of 1261 he reached Cairo via detours, where the Mameluke Sultan Baibars I now ruled.

In June 1261, the Abbasid Abu l-Abbas Ahmad al-Hakim bi-Amrillah ( al-Hakim I ) was proclaimed caliph by a rebel Mameluke in Aleppo . Baibars consequently refused recognition and in turn proclaimed al-Mustansir as caliph in Cairo. Together with the sultan, al-Mustansir moved to Damascus in October 1261 to tackle the submission of Syria. In Damascus he received an army of 3,000 warriors from Baibars, with whom he was to march against the Mongols of the Huegu in Mesopotamia . Whether Baibars also considered the conquest of Baghdad or simply securing the Euphrates border is controversial. However, al-Hakim I had already made an advance up to 20 km from Baghdad.

Al-Mustansir was able to take several cities along the western bank of the Euphrates . His army encamped near al-Anbar was discovered by a Mongol scouting party, whereupon a large Mongolian army crossed the Euphrates from al-Mustansir unnoticed on the night of November 26th to 27th and thus put him to battle. Al-Mustansir attacked the Mongols with his infantry and initially seemed to gain the upper hand over the enemy. In fact, however, he ran into a trap by the Mongols, who had used their tried and tested tactics of fake escape. When the caliph and his infantry had moved far enough away from his cavalry, which was made up of Bedouins and Turkomans, the Mongols turned around and surrounded him. Al-Mustansir had no chance against the odds and was killed. His head is said to have been presented by the Mongols in several cities in Iraq as proof of his defeat. Al-Mustansir's cavalry had made no attempt to rescue him during the battle, but had fled immediately, which is why they were accused of treason in contemporary reports.

After the death of al-Mustansir, his counter-pretender al-Hakim I moved to Cairo and was recognized by Sultan Baibars as the rightful caliph.

literature

• Stefan Heidemann: The Aleppine Caliphate (AD 1261): from the end of the Caliphate in Baghdad via Aleppo to the restorations in Cairo , In: Islamic history and civilization , Volume 6 (BRILL, 1994)

predecessor	Office	successor
al-Mustasim (residence in Baghdad)	Caliph in Cairo 1261	al-Hakim I.