Al-Mansur in the context of "Muhammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya"

Baghdad is the capital and largest city in Iraq. It is located on the banks of the Tigris in central Iraq. The city has an estimated population of 8 million. It ranks among the most populous and largest cities in the Middle East and the Arab world and constitutes 22% of the country's population. Baghdad is a primary financial and commercial center in the region.

Founded in 762 AD by Al-Mansur, Baghdad was the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate and became its most notable development project. The city evolved into an intellectual and cultural center. This, in addition to housing several key academic institutions, including the House of Wisdom, as well as a multi-ethnic and multi-religious environment, garnered it a worldwide reputation as the "Center of Learning". For much of the Abbasid era, during the Islamic Golden Age, Baghdad was one of the largest cities in the world and rivaled Chang'an, as the population peaked at more than one million. It was largely destroyed at the hands of the Mongol Empire in 1258, resulting in a decline that would linger through many centuries due to frequent plagues, shift in power and multiple successive empires. Later, Baghdad served as the administrative center of Ottoman Iraq, exercising authority over the provinces of Basra, Mosul, and Shahrizor.

The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire was the third Islamic caliphate, founded by a descendant of Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 CE), from whom the dynasty derives its name. The preceding Umayyad Caliphate was overthrown by the Abbasid Revolution in 750 CE (132 AH), after which the Abbasids ruled as caliphs from their base in Iraq, with Baghdad as their capital for most of their history.

The Abbasid Revolution had its origins and first successes in the easterly region of Khurasan, far from the Levantine center of Umayyad influence. The Abbasids first centered their government in Kufa, Iraq, but in 762 the second caliph al-Mansur founded the city of Baghdad and made it the capital. Baghdad became a center of science, culture, arts, and invention, ushering in what became known as the Golden Age of Islam. Baghdad housed several key academic institutions, such as the House of Wisdom, and along with its multi-ethnic and multi-religious population, made the city famous as a centre of learning across the world. The Abbasid period was marked by the use of bureaucrats in the government, including the vizier, as well as an in the ummah (Muslim community) and among the political elites.

The House of Wisdom (Arabic: بَيْت الْحِكْمَة Bayt al-Ḥikmah), also known as the Grand Library of Baghdad, was believed to be a major Abbasid-era public academy and intellectual center in Baghdad. In popular reference, it acted as one of the world's largest public libraries during the Islamic Golden Age, and was founded either as a library for the collections of the fifth Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid (r. 786–809) in the late 8th century or as a private collection of the second Abbasid caliph al-Mansur (r. 754–775) to house rare books and collections in the Arabic language. During the reign of the seventh Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun (r. 813 – 833 AD), it was turned into a public academy and a library.

It was destroyed in 1258 during the Mongol siege of Baghdad. The primary sources behind the House of Wisdom narrative date between the late eight centuries and thirteenth centuries, and most importantly include the references in Ibn al-Nadim's (d. 995) al-Fihrist.

Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Manṣūr (Arabic: أبو عبد الله محمد بن عبد الله المنصور; 744 or 745 – 785), better known by his regnal name al-Mahdī (المهدي, "He who is guided by God"), was the third Abbasid Caliph who reigned from 775 to his death in 785. He succeeded his father, al-Mansur.
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Al-Aqsa (/æl ˈæksə/; Arabic: الأَقْصَى, romanized: Al-Aqṣā) or al-Masjid al-Aqṣā (Arabic: المسجد الأقصى) is the compound of Islamic religious buildings that sit atop the Temple Mount, also known as the Haram al-Sharif, in the Old City of Jerusalem, including the Dome of the Rock, many mosques and prayer halls, madrasas, zawiyas, khalwas and other domes and religious structures, as well as the four encircling minarets. It is considered the third holiest site in Islam. The compound's main congregational mosque or prayer hall is variously known as Al-Aqsa Mosque, Qibli Mosque or al-Jāmiʿ al-Aqṣā, while in some sources it is also known as al-Masjid al-Aqṣā; the wider compound is sometimes known as Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in order to avoid confusion.

During the rule of the Rashidun caliph Umar (r. 634–644) or the Umayyad caliph Mu'awiya I (r. 661–680), a small prayer house on the compound was erected near the mosque's site. The present-day mosque, located on the south wall of the compound, was originally built by the fifth Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik (r. 685–705) or his successor al-Walid I (r. 705–715) (or both) as a congregational mosque on the same axis as the Dome of the Rock, a commemorative Islamic monument. After being destroyed in an earthquake in 746, the mosque was rebuilt in 758 by the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur (r. 754–775). It was further expanded upon in 780 by the Abbasid caliph al-Mahdi (r. 775–785), after which it consisted of fifteen aisles and a central dome. However, it was again destroyed during the 1033 Jordan Rift Valley earthquake. The mosque was rebuilt by the Fatimid caliph al-Zahir (r. 1021–1036), who reduced it to seven aisles but adorned its interior with an elaborate central archway covered in vegetal mosaics; the current structure preserves the 11th-century outline.

Abu Muslim Abd al-Rahman ibn Muslim al-Khurasani (Arabic: أبو مسلم عبد الرحمن بن مسلم الخراساني; Persian: ابومسلم عبدالرحمان بن مسلم خراسانی; 718/19 or 723/27 – 755) was the nom-de-guerre of a Persian revolutionary, missionary, and general who led the Abbasid Revolution that toppled the Umayyad dynasty, leading to the establishment of the Abbasid Caliphate.

Little is known about Abu Muslim's origins, but by the early 740s he had been in contact with Abbasid agents and around the year 745 he was sent to Khorasan. In 747, Abu Muslim ignited an open revolt against Umayyad rule and quickly took the city of Merv. He gradually strengthened Abbasid control over Khorasan, and was appointed governor of the province following the establishment of the Abbasid caliphate in 750. Wary of Abu Muslim's rising influence and popularity, the second Abbasid caliph, al-Mansur, ordered his death. He was executed in front of the caliph in Al-Mada'in in 755 on charges of heresy.