Muhammad ibn Abd Allah al-Mahdi was the third Abbasid caliph and al-Mansur's son. He finished the border cities his father began and ordered al-Hadath built, began building the Sacred Mosque and the Prophet ﷺ's Mosque, and rebuilt Jerusalem after the earthquakes — al-Mas'udi calls him gentle and generous.
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Muhammad al-Mahdi
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Muhammad ibn Abd Allah al-Mansur al-Mahdi, third Abbasid caliph and al-Mansur's son. Al-Baladhuri records him sending his son Harun on the raid into Roman lands in 163 AH that besieged Samalu — the fate of its people being disputed — and he finished the remaining border cities and forts his father began, strengthening their garrisons and ordering al-Hadath built; he had the pledge taken for Musa al-Hadi then Harun al-Rashid. Al-Mas'udi calls him gentle and generous, records his severity against those he named the heretics as the books of Mani, Ibn Daysan and Marcion spread — and that he was the first to order the dialectical theologians to compose books answering them; and he began building the Sacred Mosque and the Prophet ﷺ's Mosque, and rebuilt Jerusalem after the earthquakes. He died at the village of Radin in 169 AH, his caliphate lasting ten years, a month and fifteen days.
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