Editing Abbasid Caliphate (section)

===Revival of caliphal state (1118–1258)===
[[File:Map of the Abbasid Caliphate in 1180 CE.png|thumb|Approximate territory controlled by the Abbasids circa 1180, after gaining independence from the Seljuks<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Fisher |first1=William Bayne |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=16yHq5v3QZAC&pg=PA188 |title=The Cambridge History of Iran |last2=Boyle |first2=J. A. |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1968 |isbn=978-0-521-06936-6 |pages=188 |language=en}}</ref>]]
Caliph [[al-Mustarshid]] ({{Reign|1118|1135}}) was the first caliph to build an army and to lead it in battle since the 10th century.{{Sfn|Peacock|2015|p=147}} He recruited Kurdish and Arab Bedouin tribes and re-fortified Baghdad. His first concern was not the Seljuks but the [[Banu Mazyad|Mazyadids]] of [[Hilla]] in central Iraq, whom he met in battle in 1123. His bid for independence was ultimately unsuccessful, as he was defeated by a Seljuk army in 1135 and assassinated soon after.{{Sfn|Peacock|2015|pp=147–150}} 

Under [[al-Muqtafi]] ({{Reign|1136|1160}}), a new caliphal state began to emerge with the help of his vizier [[Awn ad-Din ibn Hubayra|Ibn Hubayra]].{{Sfn|Peacock|2015|pp=151–153}} Ibn Hubayra concentrated on reasserting authority in Iraq while the Seljuk Empire deteriorated. The Abbasids successfully defended Baghdad against the Seljuqs in the [[siege of Baghdad (1157)|siege of 1157]] and then conquered their Mazyadid enemies in Hilla in 1162.{{Sfn|Peacock|2015|pp=151–153}} By the end of al-Muqtafi's reign, Baghdad controlled a state stretching from [[Basra]] in the south to the edges of [[Mosul]] in the north.{{Sfn|El-Hibri|2021|p=233}} After over two hundred years of Abbasid subjection to foreign dynasties, Caliph [[al-Mustanjid]] ({{Reign|1160|1170}}) formally declared independence from the Seljuk sultans in 1165, when he dropped their names from Abbasid coinage.{{Sfn|Peacock|2015|p=153}} Initially, the caliphs were still vulnerable to the power of the viziers,{{Sfn|Peacock|2015|p=153}} but [[al-Mustadi]] ({{Reign|1170|1180}}) was able to further rally some support from the Baghdad public as well as symbolic support abroad from the [[Ayyubid dynasty|Ayyubid]] sultan [[Saladin]] and the [[Sultanate of Rum|Rum Seljuk]] sultan [[Kilij Arslan II]].{{Sfn|El-Hibri|2021|pp=228–230}}
[[File:Talisman Gate in Baghdad.jpg|thumb|Carving on [[Bab al-Talsim]], a Baghdad gate built by [[al-Nasir]] in 1221 (destroyed in 1917), possibly depicting the caliph wrestling dragons.{{Sfn|Bloom|Blair|2009|loc=Architecture; X. Decoration|p=197}}]]
The long reign of Caliph [[al-Nasir]] ({{Reign|1180|1225}}) marked a definitive shift in late Abbasid power. He reinvigorated public displays of caliphal prestige, removed officials who were too powerful, engaged in diplomacy with regions beyond Iraq, and extended his control over former Seljuk territories in western Iran — including [[Isfahan]], [[Hamadan]], [[Qazvin]] and [[Zanjan, Iran|Zanjan]].{{Sfn|El-Hibri|2021|pp=234–235}} He sought to build up his influence among Muslim rulers abroad largely through the [[Sufi]]-inspired [[futuwwa|''futuwwa'']] brotherhood that he headed.{{Sfn|El-Hibri|2021|pp=238–239}} Under caliph [[Al-Mustansir I|al-Mustansir]] ({{Reign|1226|1242}}), the Abbasid state achieved significant stability and many of the same policies continued.{{Sfn|El-Hibri|2021|pp=246–249}} He built the [[Mustansiriyya Madrasa]], inaugurated in 1234, the first madrasa to teach all four Sunni [[Madhhab|''maddhab''s]] (schools of [[Fiqh|jurisprudence]]) and the first madrasa commissioned by an Abbasid caliph.{{Sfn|El-Hibri|2021|pp=251–254}}