Мұнтасир: Аббасид халифасы және Византияға жорықтар

11th Abbasid Caliph (r. 861–862)
Al Muntasir was lauded because, unlike his father, he loved the house of ʻAlī (Shīʻa) and removed the ban on pilgrimage to the tombs of Hassan and Hussayn. He sent Wasif to raid the Byzantines.

Shortly after securing his position as caliph, al Muntasir decided to send an Abbasid army against the Byzantines. According to al Tabari, this decision was prompted by Ahmad ibn al Khasib; the vizier had recently had a falling out with Wasif, and he sought to find an excuse to get him out of the capital. Ahmad ultimately decided that the best way to accomplish this was to put him at the head of a military campaign. He was eventually able to convince the caliph to go along with the plan, and al Muntasir ordered Wasif to head to the Byzantine frontier. Having completed their preparations for the campaign, Wasif and the army departed for the Byzantine frontier in early 862. Upon arriving at the Syrian side of the frontier zone, They set up camp there in preparation for their incursions into Byzantine territory. Before Wasif had a chance to make any serious progress against the Byzantines, however, the campaign was overshadowed by events back at the capital. After a reign of only six months, al Muntasir died around the beginning of June, of either illness or poison. Following his death, the vizier Ahmad ibn al Khasib and a small group of senior Turkish commanders met and decided to appoint al Musta'in as caliph in his stead. They presented their decision to the Samarran military regiments and were eventually able to force the soldiers to swear allegiance to their candidate. The death of al Muntasir did not immediately result in the termination of the military campaign. Wasif, upon learning of the passing of the caliph, decided that he should still persist with the operation, and led his forces into Byzantine territory. The army advanced against a Byzantine fortress called Faruriyyah in the region of Tarsus. The defenders of the fortress were defeated and the stronghold was conquered by the Muslims.

Al Muntasir's reign lasted less than half a year; it ended with his death from unknown causes on Sunday, 7 June 862, at the age of 24 years (solar). There are various accounts of the illness that led to his death, including that he was bled with a poisoned lancet. Al Tabari (p. 222 3) states that al Muntasir is the first Abbasid whose tomb is known, that it was made public by his mother, a Greek slave girl, and that earlier caliphs desired their tombs to be kept secret for fear of desecration. Joel L. Kraemer in his translation of al Tabari notes on page 223:

"'Ayni comments, citing al Sibt (b. al Jawzi), that Tabari's statement here is surprising since the tombs of the Abbasid caliphs are in fact known, e. g., the tomb of al Saffah is in Anbar beneath the minbar; and those of al Mahdi in Masabadhan, Harun in Tus, al Ma'mun in Tarsis, and al Mu'tasim, al Wathiq and al Mu'tawakkil in Samarra."

His father, caliph al Mutawakkil (r. 847–861) had created a plan of succession that would allow his sons to inherit the caliphate after his death; he would be succeeded first by his eldest son, al Muntasir, then by al Mu'tazz and third by al Mu'ayyad. During al Muntasir's short reign (r. 861–862), the Turks convinced him into removing al Mu'tazz and al Mu'ayyad from the succession. When al Muntasir died, the Turkic officers gathered together and decided to install the dead caliph's cousin Ahmad al Musta'in on the throne.