Al-Mustanjid

Al-Mustanjid (died 1170) was the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad from 1160 to 1170. He was the son of previous Caliph al-Muqtafi. One of al-Muqtafi's wives wanted her own son to succeed. She gained over many Amirs to her side, and had their slave-girls armed with daggers to kill the new Caliph. Al-Mustanjid discovered the plot and placed the rebel son and mother in prison.

Around this time, Fatimid dynasty was at last extinguished, having lasted for 260 years. Their conqueror, Saladin, though himself an orthodox Muslim, initially didn't proclaim the Sunni faith in the midst of a people still devoted to the tenets and practice of the Shi'a sect. But he soon found himself able to do so; and thus the spiritual supremacy of the Abbasids again prevailed, not only in Syria, but throughout Egypt and all its dependencies.

There is little else to say than that this Caliph continued to occupy a more or less independent position, with a Vazir and courtly surroundings, and supported by only a small force sufficient for an occasional local campaign.

References

• This text is adapted from William Muir's public domain, The Caliphate: Its Rise, Decline, and Fall.

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