37 – al-Manṣūr, the caliph, Abū Jaʿfar ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Hāshimī* al-ʿAbbāsī, known as al-Manṣūr.

His mother was Salāmah the Berber.

He was born in the year 95 AH, or thereabouts.

He travelled far and wide, visited many lands, and sought knowledge.

It is said that, in his boyhood, he was nicknamed “Mudrik al-Turāb” (“the one who overtakes even the dust”).

He was dark-skinned, tall, lean, and imposing, with scant side-whiskers, a finely lined face, and a broad forehead; it was as though his two eyes were eloquent tongues. The pomp of kingship mingled in him with the dress of ascetics; hearts were drawn to him and eyes followed him. He had a high, well-defined nose and used to dye his hair and beard black.

Among the Abbasids he stood out for awe, courage, judgment, firmness, cunning, and power. He was a great hoarder of wealth, keen on accumulation, shunning diversion and play, perfect in intellect, deep in insight, and well-versed in jurisprudence, literature, and learning.

He eliminated a host of leading figures until his authority was firmly established and peoples submitted to him—though not without injustice and a strong will. Yet, on the whole, he remained sound in Islam and devout, restrained, constant in prayer and good works, possessing eloquence, rhetoric, and majesty.

He once governed a small district in Fars for its governor, Sulaymān ibn Ḥabīb ibn al-Muhallab ibn Abī Ṣufrah; he later deposed, beat, and dispossessed him, and when he became caliph he had him killed.

He was nicknamed “Abū al-Dawāniq” because of the minute accounting and penny-pinching to which he subjected the craftsmen when he founded Baghdad.