page_title: Al-Mansur
section_title: Foreign policy
hierarchical_section_title: Al-Mansur / Foreign policy
caption_attribution_description: Un dirham en argent du calife Al Mansur (AH 136-158) (754-775 AD) de la dynastie abbasside, émission en AH 150 (767 AD) à Al Mohammadiya (Téhéran, Iran). Dimension&#160;: 25 mm Poids&#160;: 2.55 g. Référence&#160;: Mitchiner WI 148
context_page_description: Al-Mansur or Abu Ja'far Abdallah ibn Muhammad al-Mansur was the second Abbasid Caliph reigning from 136 AH to 158 AH and succeeding his brother Abu al-'Abbas al-Saffah. Al-Mansur is generally regarded as the real founder of the Abbasid Caliphate, one of the largest polities in world history, for his role in stabilizing and institutionalizing the dynasty. He is also known for founding the 'round city' of Madinat al-Salam which was to become the core of imperial Baghdad.
context_section_description: During his reign, Islamic literature and scholarship began to emerge in full force, supported by the Abbasid promotion of scholarly research, best exemplified by the Abbasid-sponsored Translation Movement. It was under al-Mansur that a committee, mostly made up of Syriac-speaking Christians, was set up in Baghdad with the purpose of translating extant Greek works into Arabic. Due to the Abbasid orientation toward the East, many Persians came to play a crucial role in the Empire, both culturally and politically. This was in contrast to the preceding Umayyad era, in which non-Arabs were kept out of these affairs. Shu'ubiyya emerged at this time, due to increasing Iranian autonomy; it was a literary movement among Persians which expressed their belief in the superiority of Persian art and culture, and catalyzed the emergence of Arab-Persian dialogues in the 9th century CE.
  In 756, al-Mansur sent over 4,000 Arab mercenaries to assist the Chinese in the An Shi Rebellion against An Lushan; after the war, they remained in China. Al-Mansur was referred to as "A-p'u-ch'a-fo" in the Chinese T'ang Annals.
  In 765, Al-Mansur, suffering from a stomach ailment, called Christian Syriac-speaking physician Jurjis ibn Bukhtishu from Gundeshapur to Baghdad for medical treatment. Jurjis was awarded 10,000 dinars by Mansur for attending to his malady.
  Al Mansur's treatment of his Christian subjects was severe; he "collected from them capitation with much vigor and impressed upon them marks of slavery."
caption: Abbasid Silver Dirham of Caliph Al-Mansur 754 - 775
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