| Caliph | Reign (CE) | Yrs | Father | Mother | Transliteration | العربية |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Golden Age of Baghdad1 | ||||||
| As-Saffah | 750–754 | 4 | Muhammad ibn Ali | Rayta bint Ubaydallah | Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Saffāḥ | أبو العباس السفاح |
| Al-Mansur | 754–775 | 21 | Muhammad ibn Alihalf-brother of As-Saffah | Sallama, an enslaved Berber woman | Abū Jaʿfar al-Manśūr | أبو جعفر المنصور |
| Al-Mahdi | 775–785 | 10 | Al-Mansur | Arwa bint Mansur al-Himyariyya | Al-Mahdī | المهدي |
| Al-Hadi | 785–786 | 1 | Al-Mahdi | Al-Khayzuran bint Ata | Al-Hādī | الهادي |
| Harun al-Rashid | 786–809 | 23 | Al-Mahdi | Al-Khayzuranfull brother of Al-Hadi | Hārūn al-Rashīd | هارون الرشيد |
| Al-Amin | 809–813 | 4 | Harun al-Rashid | Zubaida bint Ja’faran Abbasid princess2 | Al-Amīn | الأمين |
| Al-Ma’mun | 813–833 | 20 | Harun al-Rashid | Marajil, a Persian concubine from Khorasan2 | Al-Ma’mūn | المأمون |
| Al-Mu’tasim | 833–842 | 9 | Harun al-Rashid | Marida, an enslaved Sogdian woman | Al-Mu’taśim | المعتصم |
| Al-Wathiq | 842–847 | 5 | Al-Mu’tasim | Qaratis, an enslaved Byzantine woman | Al-Wāthiq | الواثق |
| Al-Mutawakkil | 847–861 | 14 | Al-Mu’tasim | Shuja’, an enslaved woman | Al-Mutawakkil | المتوكل |
| Anarchy at Samarra3 | ||||||
| Al-Muntasir | 861–862 | <1 | Al-Mutawakkil | Hubshiyya, an enslaved Greek woman | Al-Muntaśir | المنتصر |
| Al-Musta’in | 862–866 | 4 | Muhammad ibn al-Mu’tasimnot a caliph | Makhariq, an enslaved Sicilian woman | Al-Musta’īn | المستعين |
| Al-Mu’tazz | 866–869 | 3 | Al-Mutawakkil | Qabiha, an enslaved Byzantine woman | Al-Mu’tazz | المعتز |
| Al-Muhtadi | 869–870 | 1 | Al-Wathiq | Qurb, an enslaved woman | Al-Muhtadī | المهتدي |
| Recovery and Slow Decline4 | ||||||
| Al-Mu’tamid | 870–892 | 22 | Al-Mutawakkil | Fityan, an enslaved woman | Al-Mu’tamid | المعتمد |
| Al-Mu’tadid | 892–902 | 10 | Al-Muwaffaqregent, not a caliph | Dirar, an enslaved Greek woman | Al-Mu’taḤid | المعتضد |
| Al-Muktafi | 902–908 | 6 | Al-Mu’tadid | Jijak, an enslaved Turkic woman | Al-Muktafī | المكتفي |
| Al-Muqtadir | 908–932 | 24 | Al-Mu’tadid | Shaghaba powerful court regent | Al-Muqtadir | المقتدر |
| Al-Qahir | 932–934 | 2 | Al-Mu’tadid | Fitna, an enslaved woman | Al-Qāhir | القاهر |
| Ar-Radi | 934–940 | 6 | Al-Muqtadir | Zalum, an enslaved woman | Al-Rāḍī | الراضي |
| Al-Muttaqi | 940–944 | 4 | Al-Muqtadir | Khalub, an enslaved woman | Al-Muttaqī | المتقي |
| Al-Mustakfi | 944–946 | 2 | Al-Muktafi | Ghusn, an enslaved woman | Al-Mustakfī | المستكفي |
| Under Buyid and Seljuk Tutelage5 | ||||||
| Al-Muti | 946–974 | 28 | Al-Muqtadir | Mash’ala, an enslaved Slavic woman | Al-Mūṭī’ | المطيع |
| At-Ta’i | 974–991 | 17 | Al-Muti | Utb, an enslaved woman | Al-Tā’i’ | الطائع |
| Al-Qadir | 991–1031 | 40 | Ishaq ibn al-Muqtadirnot a caliph | Tamna, an enslaved woman | Al-Qādir | القادر |
| Al-Qa’im | 1031–1075 | 44 | Al-Qadir | Badr al-Duja, an enslaved Armenian woman | Al-Qā’im | القائم |
| Al-Muqtadi | 1075–1094 | 19 | Muhammad Dhakhirat al-Dingrandson of Al-Qa’im | Urjuwan, an enslaved Armenian woman | Al-Muqtadī | المقتدي |
| Al-Mustazhir | 1094–1118 | 24 | Al-Muqtadi | Tayf al-Khayal, an enslaved Turkic woman | Al-Mustaḥhir | المستظهر |
| Al-Mustarshid | 1118–1135 | 17 | Al-Mustazhir | Lubaba, an enslaved Slavic woman | Al-Mustarshid | المسترشد |
| Ar-Rashid | 1135–1136 | 1 | Al-Mustarshid | Khushf | Al-Rāshid | الراشد |
| Late Recovery and the Mongol Conquest6 | ||||||
| Al-Muqtafi | 1136–1160 | 24 | Al-Mustazhiruncle of Ar-Rashid | Ashin, an enslaved Syrian woman | Al-Muqtafī | المقتفي |
| Al-Mustanjid | 1160–1170 | 10 | Al-Muqtafi | Thawus, an umm walad | Al-Mustanjid | المستنجد |
| Al-Mustadi | 1170–1180 | 10 | Al-Mustanjid | Ghaddha, an enslaved Armenian woman | Al-Mustaḍī’ | المستضيء |
| An-Nasir | 1180–1225 | 45 | Al-Mustadi | Zumurrud Khatun, an enslaved Turkic woman | Al-Nāśir | الناصر |
| Az-Zahir | 1225–1226 | 1 | An-Nasir | Asma (Umm Muhammad) | Al-Ẓāhir | الظاهر |
| Al-Mustansir | 1226–1242 | 16 | Az-Zahir | Zahra, an enslaved Turkic woman | Al-Musta᷽śir | المستنصر |
| Al-Musta’sim | 1242–1258 | 16 | Al-Mustansir | Hajir, an enslaved Turkic woman | Al-Musta’śim | المستعصم |
1 The Abbasid Revolution (747–750) overthrew the Umayyads in the name of the Prophet’s uncle al-Abbas, but its armies were raised and led overwhelmingly by Iranian (Khorasani) supporters under the general Abu Muslim — himself executed by Al-Mansur in 755 once his influence became a threat. Iran’s support was decisive in bringing the dynasty to power even before any Abbasid caliph set foot there as more than a distant sovereign.
2 Al-Amin and Al-Ma’mun’s rivalry (the “Fourth Fitna,” 809–813) pitted a younger son of two Abbasid parents — Zubaida was herself a granddaughter of Al-Mansur — against an older half-brother born to a Persian concubine. Al-Ma’mun’s eventual victory, and his reliance on Khorasani troops and administrators, marked a further deepening of Iranian influence at the highest levels of the caliphate.
3 The decade after Al-Mutawakkil’s murder in 861 saw four caliphs killed or deposed in rapid succession by the Turkic slave-soldier (ghilman) regiments Al-Mu’tasim had installed at the new capital of Samarra — a period Muslim historians call the “Anarchy at Samarra,” when military commanders, not the caliphs, held real power.
4 The court reasserted some order after 870, though effective control of Iran and Iraq increasingly passed to regional dynasties — the Saffarids, Samanids and others — who paid the caliphs only nominal homage.
5 From 945 the Shi’a Iranian Buyid dynasty controlled Baghdad and reduced the caliphs to ceremonial, religious figureheads; the Sunni Seljuk Turks displaced the Buyids in 1055 but kept the caliphate in the same subordinate role for another century.
6 Seljuk power collapsed in the 12th century, letting a handful of late caliphs — especially An-Nasir — rebuild real authority over Iraq itself, though never again over Iran at large. Al-Musta’sim was executed when Hulagu Khan’s Mongol army sacked Baghdad in 1258, ending the caliphate there; a surviving relative was installed as a ceremonial “shadow caliph” under Mamluk protection in Cairo, a line that lasted until the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517.
Most Abbasid caliphs after the ninth century were born to enslaved concubines (umm walad) rather than free wives; some of these women, such as Shaghab and Zumurrud Khatun, wielded major political power as regents, while many others are recorded by name alone or not at all.