al-Mansur (Abbasid)

Abu Jafar Abd Allah ibn Muhammad al-Abbasi, known as al-Mansur (95–158 AH), was the second Abbasid Caliph and the true consolidator of Abbasid power. He founded Baghdad (Madinat al-Salam) in 145 AH and made it the Abbasid capital. He patronized scholarship, commissioning translations of Persian, Greek, and Indian texts into Arabic — the beginning of the Islamic translation movement. He also built the Bayt al-Hikmah (House of Wisdom) which became the center of Islamic learning. He met with Imam Malik ibn Anas and urged him to compile the Muwatta as a standard legal code. He is credited with establishing the administrative and financial foundations of the Abbasid state.