He drew together the furthest edges of his dominion
until even its outmost limits lay behind him
and its nearest parts beneath his sway.
A Hashimite whose sleeves were ever rolled for action,
who never burdened a skittish, unbroken mount with more than it could bear.
He possessed forbearance that made the fearful forget their fear,
and a resolve that bent every heart to his command.
Lives fled before him in dread—
though the spirits still remained within their bodies. (1)
He was buried by the Gate of al-Maʿlā in Mecca, yet his grave is unknown, for it was deliberately concealed: al-Rabīʿ the chamberlain had one hundred graves dug and interred him elsewhere so that no one could identify the spot.
The Children of al-Manṣūr
• Muḥammad al-Mahdī, his appointed heir, and Jaʿfar the Elder, who died in his father’s lifetime—their mother was Arwā bint Manṣūr.
• ʿĪsā, Yaʿqūb, and Sulaymān—their mother was Fāṭimah bint Muḥammad, a descendant of Ṭalḥah ibn ʿUbayd Allāh.
• Jaʿfar the Younger, born to an umm walad of Kurdish origin.
• Ṣāliḥ al-Miskīn, born to an umm walad of Byzantine origin, who was known as Qālā al-Farāshah.
• Al-Qāsim, born to another umm walad.
• ʿĀliyah, born to a woman of the Banū Umayyah.
The Caliphate of al-Mahdī ibn al-Manṣūr
When his father died on the night of Saturday, six—others say seven—days having passed of Dhu al-Ḥijjah in 158 AH, the leading men of Banū Hāshim and the commanders who were with al-Manṣūr on pilgrimage pledged allegiance to al-Mahdī before the burial. Al-Rabīʿ the chamberlain then dispatched the oath of allegiance along with the robes of investiture and the staff (2) to al-Mahdī in Baghdad. The courier arrived on Tuesday, the fifteenth of Dhu al-Ḥijjah, greeted him as Caliph, handed over the letters of allegiance, and the people of Baghdad swore fealty to him. His investiture was thereafter proclaimed throughout all the provinces.
Ibn Jarīr (3) reports that one day before his death al-Manṣūr mustered his strength, summoned the commanders, and renewed the pledge of allegiance to his son al-Mahdī; they hastened and vied with one another to comply.
That same year the pilgrimage was led, by the bequest of his uncle, by Ibrāhīm ibn Yaḥyā ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās.