Al-Mutawakkil III

Al-Mutawakkil III (Arabic: المتوكل على الله الثالث‎) (died 1543) was caliph from 1508 to 1516, and again in 1517. He was the last caliph of the later, Egyptian-based period of the Abbasid dynasty. Since the Mongol sack of Baghdad and the execution of Caliph Al-Musta'sim in 1258, the Abbasid caliphs had resided in Cairo, nominal rulers used to legitimize the actual rule of the Mamluk sultans.

Al-Mutawakkil III was deposed briefly in 1516 by his predecessor Al-Mustamsik, but was restored to the caliphate the following year. In 1517, Ottoman sultan Selim I managed to defeat the Mamluk Sultanate, and made Egypt part of the Ottoman Empire. Al-Mutawakkil III was captured together with his family and transported to Constantinople. He formally surrendered the title of caliph as well as its outward emblems—the sword and mantle of Muhammad—to Ottoman sultan Selim I^{[citation needed]}.

References

• "Biography of Al-Mutawakkil III" (in Arabic). Islampedia.com. Archived from the original on 2008-06-11. http://web.archive.org/web/20080611061336/http://www.islampedia.com/MIE2/tarikh/105mouta.html. 

Bibliography

• Garcin, Jean-Claude (1967). "Histoire, opposition, politique et piétisme traditionaliste dans le Ḥusn al Muḥādarat de Suyûti [History, opposition, politics and traditionalistic pietism in Suyuti's Ḥusn al Muḥādarat]" (in French) (PDF, 14.62 MB). Annales Islamologiques (Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale) 7: pp. 33–90. http://www.ifao.egnet.net/anisl/AnIsl007_art_03.pdf. Retrieved 2010-07-22. 
• Holt, P. M. (1984). "Some Observations on the 'Abbāsid Caliphate of Cairo" (subscription required). Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London) 47 (3): pp. 501–507. JSTOR 618882. 

Al-Mutawakkil III Abbasid dynasty Cadet branch of the Banu Quraysh Born:  ? Died: 1543
Sunni Islam titles
Preceded by Al-Mustamsik	Caliph of Cairo 1508–1516	Succeeded by Al-Mustamsik
Preceded by Al-Mustamsik	Caliph of Cairo 1517	Disclaimed Caliphate surrendered to Selim I according to apocryphal story