Editing Al-Mahdi (section)

==Early life==
Al-Mahdi was born in 744 or 745 AD in the village of [[Humeima]] (modern-day [[Jordan]]). His mother was called [[Arwa bint Mansur al-Himyari|Arwa]], and his father was [[al-Mansur]]. When al-Mahdi was ten years old, his father became the second [[Abbasid Caliph]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.imamreza.net/eng/imamreza.php?id=1260|title=The Abbasid Caliphs During the Lifetime of Imam Reza (A.S.)|website=Imam Reza Network|access-date=10 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220090051/http://www.imamreza.net/eng/imamreza.php?id=1260|archive-date=2016-12-20|url-status=dead}}</ref> When al-Mahdi was young, his father needed to establish al-Mahdi as a powerful figure in his own right. So, on the east bank of the [[Tigris]], al-Mansur oversaw the construction of East Baghdad, with a mosque and royal palace at its heart. Construction in the area was also heavily financed by the [[Barmakids]], and the area became known as [[al-Rusafa, Iraq|Rusafa]].{{sfn|Marozzi|2015|pages=21–2}}

According to reports, he was tall, charming, and stylish; he had tan skin, a long forehead, and wavy hair. He loved women.{{sfn|Bobrick|2012|p=19}}

When he was 15 years old, al-Mahdi was sent to defeat the uprising of Abdur Rahman bin Abdul Jabbar Azdi in [[Greater Khorasan|Khorasan]]. He also defeated the [[Tabaristan uprising|uprisings of Ispahbud]], the governor of [[Tabaristan]], and Astazsis,{{verify source|2017|03|23|date=March 2017}} massacring more than 70,000 of his followers in Khorasan. These campaigns put Tabaristan, which was only nominally within the caliphate, firmly under Abbasid control.{{sfn|Toyib|2011|p=36}} In 762 AD, al-Mahdi was the governor of the Abbasid Caliphate's eastern region, based in [[Rey, Iran|Ray]]. It was here that he fell in love with [[al-Khayzuran]] (translates as "bamboo"), a daughter of a warlord in [[Herat]]{{sfn|Bobrick|2012|p=19}} and had several children, including the fourth and fifth future Caliphs, [[al-Hadi]] and [[Harun al-Rashid]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kennedy|first=Hugh|year=2004|title=The True Caliph of the Arabian Nights|url=http://www.historytoday.com/hugh-kennedy/true-caliph-arabian-nights|journal=History Today|volume=54|issue=9}}</ref> Around 770 AD (153 AH), al-Mahdi was appointed as [[Amir al-hajj]].<ref name=":0" /> Al-Khayzuran was gifted to Mahdi by his father.{{sfn|Bobrick|2012|p=19}}