Abū Mūsā Muḥammad ibn Hārūn al-Amīn ( Arabic : أبو موسى محمد بن هارون الرشيد , romanized : Abū Mūsā Muḥammad ibn Hārūn al-Rashīd ; April 787 – 24/25 September 813), better known by his laqab of al-Amin ( Arabic : الأمين , romanized : al-Amīn ), was the sixth Abbasid caliph from 809 to 813.
127-648: Victory of al-Ma'mun The Fourth Fitna or Great Abbasid Civil War resulted from the conflict between the brothers al-Amin and al-Ma'mun over the succession to the throne of the Abbasid Caliphate . Their father, Caliph Harun al-Rashid , had named al-Amin as the first successor, but had also named al-Ma'mun as the second, with Khurasan granted to him as an appanage . Later a third son, al-Qasim , had been designated as third successor. After Harun died in 809, al-Amin succeeded him in Baghdad . Encouraged by
254-421: A Muslim emirate . On his return to Baghdad in 827, Abdallah ibn Tahir received a triumphal reception, and was appointed governor of Khurasan in 828, replacing Talha. His place in the west was taken over by al-Ma'mun's younger brother Abu Ishaq al-Mu'tasim. In Yemen, another Alid revolt broke out in 822 under Abd al-Rahman ibn Ahmad, but al-Ma'mun managed to secure his surrender by negotiations. Elsewhere, however,
381-522: A final assault, in which al-Amin was captured and executed at Tahir's orders while trying to seek refuge with his old family friend Harthama. While al-Ma'mun was probably not implicated in the act, it was politically convenient, as it left him both de jure and de facto the legitimate caliph. Nevertheless, the regicide soured al-Ma'mun's victory. Tahir was soon transferred out of the public eye to an unimportant post in Raqqa , but his deed lastingly tarnished
508-444: A force sent against him. In Mecca , Dawud ibn Isa reminded worshippers that al-Amin had destroyed Harun ar Rashid's succession pledges and led them in swearing allegiance to al-Mamun. Dawud then went to Marv and presented himself to al-Ma'mun. Al-Ma'mun confirmed Dawud in his governorship of Mecca and Medina. Al-Amin's only wife was Lubana bint Ali ibn al-Mahdi , who was noted for her exceptional beauty. However, al-Amin died before
635-402: A long-standing rivalry with the abnaʾ . Although the latter now resided chiefly in what is now Iraq, they insisted on retaining control of Khurasani affairs and demanded that the province's revenues be sent west to supply their salaries, something strongly resisted by the local Arab and Iranian elites. The resulting tension was eased when al-Fadl ibn Yahya, universally praised as a model governor,
762-503: A series of Alid uprisings occurred, beginning with Abu'l-Saraya at Kufa and spreading to southern Iraq , the Hejaz , and Yemen . The pro-Khurasani policies followed by al-Ma'mun's powerful chief minister, al-Fadl ibn Sahl , and al-Ma'mun's eventual espousal of an Alid succession in the person of Ali al-Ridha , alienated the traditional Baghdad élites, who saw themselves increasingly marginalized. Consequently, al-Ma'mun's uncle Ibrahim
889-549: A series of hard-fought engagements near Hamadan , and reached Hulwan by winter. Al-Amin now desperately tried to bolster his forces by alliances with Arab tribes, notably the Banu Shayban of Jazira and the Qays of Syria . The veteran Abd al-Malik ibn Salih was sent to Syria to mobilize its troops along with Ali ibn Isa's son, Husayn. However, al-Amin's efforts failed due to the long-standing intertribal divisions between
1016-494: A set of silver chains with which to bind al-Ma'mun and carry him back to Baghdad. In March 811 al-Amin dispatched an army under Ali ibn Isa ibn Mahan against al-Ma'mun . Ali advanced on Rayy. Al-Ma'mun's capable general Tahir bin Husain met and defeated Ali, who was killed. Tahir took Ahwaz and gained control of Bahrayn and parts of Arabia. Basra and Kufa swore allegiance to al-Ma'mun. Tahir advanced on Baghdad and defeated
1143-446: A set of silver chains with which to bind al-Ma'mun and carry him back to Baghdad. The news of Ali's approach threw Khurasan into panic, and even al-Ma'mun considered fleeing. The only military force available to him was a small army of some 4,000–5,000 men, under Tahir ibn al-Husayn . Tahir was sent to confront Ali's advance, but it was widely regarded as almost a suicide mission, even by Tahir's own father. The two armies met at Rayy , on
1270-511: A songwriter and singer. After al-Amin's death, she became a concubine of Ali bin Hisham. Another concubine was Da'f. She was a songstress and was one of his favourites. Al-Amin tried to nominate his sons, Musa and Abdullah, as heirs. Musa was born in 806, and passed away at a young age in December 823–January 824. Abdullah, who spent an extended period in the courts of subsequent caliphs, was
1397-550: A year in a vicious urban guerrilla war. Indeed, it was this "revolutionary" situation in the city as much as famine and the besiegers' professional expertise, that brought about its fall: in September 813, Tahir convinced some of the richer citizens to cut the pontoon bridges over the Tigris that connected the city to the outside world, allowing al-Ma'mun's men to occupy the city's eastern suburbs. Al-Ma'mun's troops then launched
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#17327766424681524-453: Is generally portrayed as the "evil genius" behind al-Amin, and one of the main instigators of the conflict. Very quickly, al-Amin moved to sideline the youngest brother, Qasim. Initially, Qasim was removed from his governorship of the Jazira , but soon after he was stripped altogether of his place in the succession and placed under guard at Baghdad. It was only because al-Ma'mun resided far from
1651-714: The Arianoi . Strabo , in his Geographica (1st century AD), mentions of the Medes , Persians, Bactrians and Sogdians of the Iranian Plateau and Transoxiana of antiquity: The name of Ariana is further extended to a part of Persia and of Media, as also to the Bactrians and Sogdians on the north; for these speak approximately the same language, with but slight variations. The Bactrian (a Middle Iranian language) inscription of Kanishka (the founder of
1778-588: The Battle of Ray , and then invaded Iraq and besieged Baghdad itself. The city fell after a year, al-Amin was executed, and al-Ma'mun became Caliph. Al-Ma'mun chose to remain in Khurasan, however, rather than coming to the capital. This allowed the power vacuum which the civil war had fostered in the Caliphate's provinces to grow, and several local rulers sprang up in Jazira , Syria and Egypt . In addition,
1905-777: The Iranic peoples , are the collective ethno-linguistic groups who are identified chiefly by their native usage of any of the Iranian languages , which are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages within the Indo-European language family . The Proto-Iranians are believed to have emerged as a separate branch of the Indo-Iranians in Central Asia around the mid-2nd millennium BC. At their peak of expansion in
2032-526: The Khurramites , dragged on for far longer, into the 830s. Historians have interpreted the conflict variously; in the words of the Iranologist Elton L. Daniel , it has been regarded as "a conflict over the succession between a rather incompetent, besotted al-Amin and his shrewdly competent brother al-Ma'mun; as the product of harem intrigues; as an extension of the personal rivalry between
2159-522: The Kushan Empire ) at Rabatak, which was discovered in 1993 in an unexcavated site in the Afghan province of Baghlan , clearly refers to this Eastern Iranian language as Arya . All this evidence shows that the name Arya was a collective definition, denoting peoples who were aware of belonging to the one ethnic stock, speaking a common language, and having a religious tradition that centered on
2286-921: The Parthians , the Persians , the Sagartians , the Saka , the Sarmatians , the Scythians , the Sogdians , and likely the Cimmerians , among other Iranian-speaking peoples of West Asia , Central Asia, Eastern Europe , and the Eastern Steppe . In the 1st millennium AD, their area of settlement, which was mainly concentrated in the steppes and deserts of Eurasia , was significantly reduced due to
2413-802: The Sintashta culture and the subsequent Andronovo culture within the broader Andronovo horizon, and their homeland with an area of the Eurasian steppe that borders the Ural River on the west and the Tian Shan on the east. The Indo-Iranian migrations took place in two waves. The first wave consisted of the Indo-Aryan migration through the Bactria-Margiana Culture , also called "Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex," into
2540-610: The Tihamah , including Mecca , where Muhammad al-Dibaj , a grandson of the Alid imam Ja'far al-Sadiq , was proclaimed anti-caliph in November 815. The suppression of these revolts was entrusted to Ali ibn Isa's son Hamdawayh , with an army of abnaʾ . Hamdawayh was successful in subduing these provinces, but then attempted, unsuccessfully, to secede from the Caliphate himself. In 816, to bolster his flagging prestige, al-Ma'mun assumed
2667-1288: The Zazas . Their current distribution spreads across the Iranian Plateau ;– stretching from the Caucasus in the north to the Persian Gulf in the south and from eastern Anatolia in the west to western Xinjiang in the east – covering a region that is sometimes called Greater Iran , representing the extent of the Iranian-speaking peoples and the reach of their geopolitical and cultural influence. The term Iran derives directly from Middle Persian Ērān / AEran ( 𐭠𐭩𐭥𐭠𐭭 ) and Parthian Aryān . The Middle Iranian terms ērān and aryān are oblique plural forms of gentilic ēr- (in Middle Persian) and ary- (in Parthian), both deriving from Old Persian ariya- ( 𐎠𐎼𐎡𐎹 ), Avestan airiia- ( 𐬀𐬌𐬭𐬌𐬌𐬀 ) and Proto-Iranian *arya- . There have been many attempts to qualify
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#17327766424682794-575: The abnaʾ aristocracy of Baghdad, al-Ma'mun remained influenced by Ja'far and his associates. In 802, Harun and the most powerful officials of the Abbasid government made the pilgrimage to Mecca , where the definitive succession arrangement was drawn up: al-Amin would succeed Harun in Baghdad, but al-Ma'mun would remain al-Amin's heir and would additionally rule over an enlarged and practically independent Khurasan. A third son, al-Qasim (al-Mu'tamin),
2921-516: The abnaʾ , which now proved useful in smoothing their acceptance of al-Ma'mun. Tahir was further rewarded with the governorship of Khurasan in September 821, and when he died in October 822, he was succeeded by his son, Talha . For the next fifty years, the Tahirid line would provide the governors of a vast eastern province centred on Khurasan, while also providing the governors of Baghdad, securing
3048-560: The frontier areas with the Byzantine Empire in Upper Mesopotamia and Syria . These complex arrangements, sealed with mutual judicial and religious oaths, clearly demonstrate that Harun was conscious of their precariousness, in view of the profound differences between al-Amin and al-Ma'mun, both in character and in interests. Very quickly, this latent rivalry had important repercussions: almost immediately after
3175-538: The status quo , and had already repulsed an invasion in 824 under Khalid ibn Yazid ibn Mazyad . Ibn Tahir however managed to outmanoeuvre both, so that Ali al-Jarawi quickly went over to him, leaving Ubayd Allah to submit and face deportation to Baghdad. In Alexandria, Ibn Tahir secured the departure of the Andalusians, who left the city for the Byzantine island of Crete , which they conquered and transformed into
3302-585: The Abbasid court witnessed the abrupt fall of the Barmakid family from power. On the one hand, this decision may reflect the fact that the Barmakids may have become indeed too powerful for the Caliph's liking, but its timing suggests that it was tied to the succession issue as well: with al-Amin siding with the abnaʾ and al-Ma'mun with the Barmakids, and the two camps becoming more estranged every day, if al-Amin
3429-552: The Abbasid dynasty relied heavily on Khurasanis as military leaders and administrators. Many of the original Khurasani Arab army ( Khurasaniyya ) that came west with the Abbasids were given estates in Iraq and the new Abbasid capital, Baghdad , and became an elite group known as the abnaʾ al-dawla ("sons of the state/dynasty"). Khurasan retained a privileged position among the Caliphate's provinces, and Harun al-Rashid, in particular,
3556-667: The Abbasids and the Alids was troubled and underwent many changes. The Alids, claiming descent from Muhammad , had been the focal point of several failed revolts directed against the Umayyads –whose regime was widely regarded as oppressive and more concerned with the worldly aspects of the caliphate than the teachings of Islam–inspired by the belief that only a "chosen one from the Family of Muhammad" ( al-ridha min Al Muhammad ) would have
3683-623: The Abbasids tried to secure Alid support or at least acquiescence through salaries and honours at court, but some, chiefly the Zaydi and Hasanid branches of the Alids, continued to reject them as usurpers. Thereafter, periods of conciliatory efforts alternated with periods of suppression by the caliphs, provoking Alid uprisings which were followed in turn by large-scale persecutions of the Alids and their supporters. Al-Amin Al-Amin succeeded his father, Harun al-Rashid, in 809 and ruled until he
3810-622: The Abbasids used the opportunity to exact revenge. The revolt was nominally led by the Alid Ibn Tabataba , and after his death by Zayd, a son of the imam Musa al-Kadhim who had been executed in 799 on Harun al-Rashid's orders. The uprising came close to threatening Baghdad itself, and it was only through the intervention of the capable Harthama that it was quelled, with Abu'l-Saraya being captured and executed in October. Secondary pro-Alid movements also seized control of Yemen (under Ibrahim al-Jazzar , another son of Musa al-Kadhim) and
3937-414: The Abbasids were given estates in Iraq and the new Abbasid capital, Baghdad, and became an elite group known as the abnāʾ al-dawla ("sons of the state/dynasty"). This large-scale presence of an Iranian element in the highest circles of the Abbasid state, with the Barmakid family as its most notable representatives, was certainly a factor in the appointment of al-Ma'mun, linked through his mother with
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4064-723: The Abbasids. The governor in Damascus , the Abbasid prince Sulayman ibn Abi Ja'far , was expelled by pro- Umayyad forces with particular backing from the Kalb tribe. A descendant of the Umayyad caliph Mu'awiya I , Abu al-Umaytir al-Sufyani , was proclaimed caliph in Damascus in 811 and gained recognition in Homs and other parts of Syria. He was less well-received by the Kalb's longtime rivals,
4191-429: The Alid succession is uncertain—there are suggestions that Ali al-Ridha was so old that he could hardly be expected to actually succeed al-Ma'mun—its impact was disastrous: not only did it fail to produce any tangible popular support, but also provoked an uproar among the members of the Abbasid family in Baghdad. Hasan ibn Sahl had already been forced to abandon the city, where various factional leaders now shared power, and
4318-457: The Arab tribal army of the Byzantine frontier, which was now reorganized and placed under the command of al-Ma'mun's son al-Abbas . This system was further elaborated and acquired its definite characteristics in the reign of Abu Ishaq (al-Mu'tasim), who created a tightly controlled, centralized state, and expanded his Turkish corps into an effective military force with which he waged campaigns against
4445-548: The Baghdad commanders of this expedition to remain with al-Ma'mun, after Harun's death they returned to Baghdad. Al-Amin sought to turn al-Ma'mun's financial agent in Rayy against al-Ma'mun and he ordered al-Ma'mun to acknowledge al-Amin's son Musa as heir and return to Baghdad. Al-Ma'mun replaced his agent in Rayy and refused the orders. His mother was Persian and he had strong support in Iran . The brothers had different mothers. Al-Amin
4572-501: The Baghdad court, al-Amin began trying to subvert the autonomous status of Khurasan, and al-Qasim was quickly sidelined. In response, al-Ma'mun sought the support of the provincial élites of Khurasan and made moves to assert his own autonomy. As the rift between the two brothers and their respective camps widened, al-Amin declared his own son Musa as his heir and assembled a large army. In 811, al-Amin's troops marched against Khurasan, but al-Ma'mun's general Tahir ibn Husayn defeated them in
4699-439: The Barmakid family, and claimed that she was abducted and sold as a child when the Barmakids lost their influence. Al-Amin acquired her and subsequently sold her to his brother al-Ma'mun. She gained recognition as a prominent poet, singer, and musician. Another concubine was Faridah. She was raised in the Hejaz . Initially, she served Harun al-Rashid's chamberlain, al-Rabi' ibn Yunus, where she learned to sing. Later, she came under
4826-511: The Barmakids. Indeed, Hasan ibn Sahl was for the time being confirmed in his brother's position, and al-Ma'mun was betrothed to one of his daughters. Ali al-Ridha also died during the march on 5 September, possibly of poison. His burial place at Sanabad, now known as Mashhad ("the place of martyrdom"), was to become a major Shi'a pilgrimage site . In the meantime, back in Baghdad, Ibrahim faced desertions, rebellions and conspiracies, one of which involved his half-brother al-Mansur. Hasan ibn Sahl
4953-510: The Byzantines and internal rebellions alike. The Turkish leaders came to political power as provincial governors, while the old Arab and Iranian elites were completely sidelined. Al-Ma'mun's victory also had repercussions in the Abbasid official theological doctrine: in 829, al-Ma'mun adopted Mu'tazilism , in an attempt reconcile doctrinal differences in Islam and reduce social inequities. At
5080-469: The Caliph's immediate area of control that he escaped sharing this fate. The rift between the two camps manifested in 810, when al-Amin added his own son, Musa, to the line of succession. Al-Amin then sent a delegation to Marv, asking al-Ma'mun to return to Baghdad. After al-Ma'mun, fearing for his safety, refused, al-Amin began to interfere with his brother's domain: he protested al-Ma'mun's pardon to Ibn al-Layth after his surrender and asked for tribute from
5207-639: The Caliphate continued to be troubled by rebellions: the rest of al-Ma'mun's reign saw a series of uprisings by the Zutt in lower Iraq, a three-year revolt against oppressive taxation in Egypt in 829, in which both the Christian Copts and the Muslims participated, as well as the unsuccessful revolt of Ali ibn Hisham, Ibn Humayd's successor as governor of Armenia and Adharbayjan. The long civil war shattered
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5334-633: The Caliphate were now grouped into larger units, often controlled by a hereditary dynasty, like the Tahirids in Khurasan or the Samanids in Transoxiana , usually of Iranian descent. At the same time, however, al-Ma'mun tried to lessen his dependence on the Iranian element of his empire, and counterbalanced them through the creation of two new military corps: his brother Abu Ishaq's Turkish slaves, and
5461-637: The Caliphate, with only Khurasan and the frontier districts with the Byzantine Empire exempt from this turmoil. Iraq in particular descended into near-anarchy. The new governor of Iraq, Fadl's brother al-Hasan ibn Sahl , soon lost the support of the abnaʾ . The local population's alienation from his regime was exploited by the Zaydi Alids , who on 26 January 815 rose in revolt at Kufa , led by Abu'l-Saraya . The revolt spread quickly through Iraq region as various groups with old grievances against
5588-785: The Greek sources. Herodotus , in his Histories , remarks about the Iranian Medes that "Medes were called anciently by all people Arians " (7.62). In Armenian sources, the Parthians, Medes and Persians are collectively referred to as Iranians . Eudemus of Rhodes (Dubitationes et Solutiones de Primis Principiis, in Platonis Parmenidem) refers to "the Magi and all those of Iranian ( áreion ) lineage". Diodorus Siculus (1.94.2) considers Zoroaster ( Zathraustēs ) as one of
5715-405: The Indo-Aryans who founded the Mitanni kingdom in northern Syria; ( c. 1500 – c. 1300 BC ) the other group were the Vedic people. Christopher I. Beckwith suggests that the Wusun , an Indo-European Caucasian people of Inner Asia in antiquity , were also of Indo-Aryan origin. The second wave is interpreted as the Iranian wave, and took place in the third stage of
5842-442: The Indo-European migrations from 800 BC onwards. The Sintashta culture, also known as the Sintashta–Petrovka culture or Sintashta–Arkaim culture, is a Bronze Age archaeological culture of the northern Eurasian steppe on the borders of Eastern Europe and Central Asia , dated to the period 2100–1800 BC . It is probably the archaeological manifestation of the Indo-Iranian language group. The Sintashta culture emerged from
5969-457: The Jazira. Nasr was willing to acknowledge al-Ma'mun's authority, but demanded concessions for his followers and remained hostile to the Abbasids' Persian officials, so that he had to be browbeaten into submission by a show of force before his capital, Kaysum , in 824–825. After securing his northern flank, Ibn Tahir marched through Syria into Egypt. There the two rivals, although not opposed in principle to al-Ma'mun as Caliph, were eager to maintain
6096-510: The Khorasan expedition decided to obey new caliph's order to return to Baghdad. The rebel chose to surrender himself to Harun's son and new governor of Khurasan, al-Ma'mun . He was pardoned, and nothing more is known of him after. Al-Amin continued the progressive moves of his father. The first two years of his reign were generally peaceful. Al-Ma'mun had mistrusted al-Amin before their father's death and convinced Harun to take him with him on Harun's last journey east. Although Harun had instructed
6223-411: The Levant, founding the Mittani kingdom ; and a migration south-eastward of the Vedic people, over the Hindu Kush into northern India. The Indo-Aryans split off around 1800–1600 BC from the Iranians, whereafter they were defeated and split into two groups by the Iranians, who dominated the Central Eurasian steppe zone and "chased [the Indo-Aryans] to the extremities of Central Eurasia." One group were
6350-472: The Mecca agreement. Some modern scholars have tried to interpret the conflict between the two brothers as a confrontation between the Arab and Iranian elements of the caliphate, represented by the two contenders' mothers. It is true that the Iranian-dominated East generally backed al-Ma'mun, but neither was al-Amin a conscious champion of "Arabism", nor was the support for al-Ma'mun the result of his Iranian origin, although his supporters did make propaganda among
6477-460: The Qays and the Kalb , the Syrians' reluctance to get involved in the civil war, as well as the unwillingness of the abnaʾ to cooperate with the Arab tribes and to make political concessions to them. These failed efforts to secure Arab tribal support backfired on al-Amin, as the abnaʾ began to doubt whether their interests were best served by him. In March 812, Husayn ibn Ali led a short-lived coup against al-Amin in Baghdad, proclaiming al-Ma'mun as
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#17327766424686604-486: The Qays, who mobilized against Abu al-Umaytir and the Kalb under the pro-Abbasid tribal chief, Ibn Bayhas al-Kilabi . The latter toppled the Umayyad government in Damascus in 813 and was recognized as governor by al-Ma'mun. Ibn Bayhas ruled semi-independently, even minting his own coins. He remained in office until being dismissed in the mid-820s by al-Ma'mun's viceroy over Syria and the Jazira, Abd Allah ibn Tahir ibn al-Husayn . ^ b: The relationship between
6731-433: The bureaucracy like Fadl ibn al-Rabi (who returned to his office as hajib ), and leaders of the abnaʾ . As the scholar Mohamed Rekaya commented, "in other words, it was a revival of the war between the two camps [Baghdad and Khurasan], dormant since 813". Ibrahim moved to secure control of Iraq, but although he captured Kufa, Hasan ibn Sahl, who had made Wasit his base of operations, managed to get to Basra first. However,
6858-423: The city . The effects of this siege were made more intense by the rampaging prisoners who broke out of jail. There were several vicious battles, such as at al-Amin's palace of Qasr Halih, at Darb al- Hijarah and the al-Shammasiyyah Gate. In that last one Tahir led reinforcements to regain positions lost by another officer. Overall the situation was worsening for al-Amin and he became depressed. When Tahir pushed into
6985-444: The city's loyalty to the caliphal government even after the capital was moved to Samarra . At the time al-Ma'mun entered Baghdad, the western provinces of the Caliphate had slipped away from effective Abbasid control, with local rulers claiming various degrees of autonomy from the central government. Egypt had become divided between two bitterly hostile factions, one under Ubayd Allah ibn al-Sari which had come to control Fustat and
7112-415: The city, al-Amin sought to negotiate safe passage out. Tahir reluctantly agreed on the condition al-Amin turn over his sceptre, seal and other symbols of office. Al-Amin tried to leave on a boat, apparently with these symbols, rejecting warnings to wait. However, Tahir noticed the boat, and al-Amin was thrown into the water, swam to shore, was captured and then brought to a room, where he was executed. His head
7239-662: The command of Shapur I gives a more clear description. The languages used are Parthian, Middle Persian, and Greek. In Greek inscription says "ego ... tou Arianon ethnous despotes eimi" , which translates to "I am the king of the kingdom ( nation ) of the Iranians". In Middle Persian, Shapur says "ērānšahr xwadāy hēm" and in Parthian he says "aryānšahr xwadāy ahēm" . The Avesta clearly uses airiia- as an ethnic name ( Videvdat 1; Yasht 13.143–44, etc.), where it appears in expressions such as airyāfi daiŋˊhāvō ("Iranian lands"), airyō šayanəm ("land inhabited by Iranians"), and airyanəm vaējō vaŋhuyāfi dāityayāfi ("Iranian stretch of
7366-564: The common people of the city for help and gave them arms. The abnaʾ began defecting to Tahir in droves, and in August 812, when Tahir's army appeared before the city, he established his quarters in the suburb of Harbiyya, traditionally an abnaʾ stronghold. The historian Hugh N. Kennedy characterized the subsequent siege of the city as "an episode almost without parallel in the history of early Islamic society" and "the nearest early Islamic history saw to an attempt at social revolution", as Baghdad's urban proletariat defended their city for over
7493-418: The consummation of his marriage to Lubanah; her attested poetry includes a lament for his death: 'Oh hero lying dead in the open, betrayed by his commanders and guards. I cry over you not for the loss of my comfort and companionship, but for your spear, your horse and your dreams. I cry over my lord who widowed me before our wedding night'. One of his concubines was Fatm, also known as Nazm and Umm Musa. She
7620-432: The control of the Aghlabids , while Yemen was troubled by pro-Alid revolts. Perhaps the most threatening rebellion of all was the anti-Muslim Khurramite movement, which controlled large parts of Adharbayjan and Armenia. To face these insurgencies, al-Ma'mun turned to another of Tahir's sons, Abdallah ibn Tahir , to whom he entrusted the command of his army. Ibn Tahir first targeted Nasr ibn Shabath in northern Syria and
7747-403: The court returned to Baghdad in January 803, the Abbasid elites were shaken by the abrupt fall of the Barmakid family from power. On the one hand, this event may reflect the fact that the Barmakids had become indeed too powerful for the Caliph's liking, but its timing suggests that it was tied to the succession issue as well: with al-Amin siding with the abnāʾ and al-Ma'mun with the Barmakids, and
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#17327766424687874-403: The cult of Ohrmazd. The academic usage of the term Iranian is distinct from the state of Iran and its various citizens (who are all Iranian by nationality), in the same way that the term Germanic peoples is distinct from Germans . Some inhabitants of Iran are not necessarily ethnic Iranians by virtue of not being speakers of Iranian languages. Some scholars such as John Perry prefer
8001-401: The dispute over the status of Khurasan: the abnaʾ , led by Ali ibn Isa, whom Harun had imprisoned but who was now set free and appointed head of the Caliph's bodyguard, were joined by other influential officials, chief amongst them al-Fadl ibn al-Rabi, in demanding that Khurasan and its revenue return to the direct control of the central government, even if that meant breaking the stipulations of
8128-415: The divine guidance necessary to rule according to the Quran and the Sunnah and create a truly Islamic government that would bring justice to the Muslim community. However, it was the Abbasid family, who like the Alids formed part of the Banu Hashim clan and hence could lay claim to be members of the wider "Family of the Prophet", who successfully seized the Caliphate. Following the Abbasid Revolution,
8255-470: The early days of the Hashimiyya movement which had carried the Abbasids to power. Despite the reservations of some of his senior ministers and governors, two months later, in January 811, al-Amin formally began the civil war when he appointed Ali ibn Isa governor of Khurasan, placed him at the head of an unusually large army of 40,000 men, drawn from the abnaʾ , and sent him to depose al-Ma'mun. When Ali ibn Isa set out for Khurasan, he reportedly took along
8382-471: The early days of the Hashimiyya movement which had carried the Abbasids to power. Despite the reservations of some of his senior ministers and governors, two months later, in January 811, al-Amin formally began the civil war when he appointed Ali ibn Isa governor of Khurasan, placed him at the head of an unusually large army of 40,000 men, drawn from the abnaʾ , and sent him to depose al-Ma'mun. When Ali ibn Isa set out for Khurasan, he reportedly took along
8509-422: The eastern Iranian provinces, as heir and governor of Khurasan. The stipulations of the agreement, which were recorded in detail by the historian al-Tabari , accorded al-Mamun's Khurasani viceroyalty extensive autonomy. However, modern historians consider that these accounts may have been distorted by later apologists of al-Ma'mun in the latter's favour. Harun's third heir, al-Mu'tamin, received responsibility over
8636-465: The elder. It was al-Amin however who was named first heir in 792, while al-Ma'mun followed in 799, a sequence which was influenced by their lines of descent and their political implications: al-Amin had a solidly Abbasid lineage, being Harun's son by Zubayda , herself descended from the second Abbasid Caliph al-Mansur ( r. 754–775 ), while al-Ma'mun's mother was Marajil , a Persian concubine from Badhgis in Khurasan . While al-Ma'mun's origin
8763-419: The expansion of the Slavic peoples , the Germanic peoples , the Turkic peoples , and the Mongolic peoples ; many were subjected to Slavicization and Turkification . Modern Iranian peoples include the Baloch , the Gilaks , the Kurds , the Lurs , the Mazanderanis , the Ossetians , the Pamiris , the Pashtuns , the Persians, the Tats , the Tajiks , the Talysh , the Wakhis , the Yaghnobis , and
8890-421: The fore in the western regions of the Caliphate, particularly in Baghdad and surroundings, which feared being degraded to a mere province. This was furthered when the new Caliph entrusted the governance of the state to Fadl ibn Sahl, who intended to permanently move the Muslim world's centre of power eastwards to Khurasan, where he and his circle could control the reins of power to the exclusion of other groups. Fadl
9017-411: The good Dāityā"). In the late part of the Avesta (Videvdat 1), one of the mentioned homelands was referred to as Airyan'əm Vaējah which approximately means "expanse of the Iranians". The homeland varied in its geographic range, the area around Herat ( Pliny 's view) and even the entire expanse of the Iranian Plateau ( Strabo 's designation). The Old Persian and Avestan evidence is confirmed by
9144-507: The governor of Egypt, Abd al-Aziz al-Azdi, recognized Ibrahim as Caliph. In Khurasan, the Sahlids at first downplayed the events at Baghdad, falsely informing al-Ma'mun that Ibrahim had merely been declared governor ( amir ) rather than Caliph. Finally, in December 817 Ali al-Ridha succeeded in revealing to al-Ma'mun the real situation in Iraq, and convinced him that the turmoil in the Caliphate
9271-525: The governors of the western provinces of Khurasan as a sign of submission. He then demanded of his brother the cession of the western regions of Khurasan, the admission of caliphal tax and postal agents into the province, and the forwarding of Khurasan's revenue to Baghdad. Al-Ma'mun, who could not rely on large military forces and whose position was consequently weak, was at first inclined to accede to his brother's demands, but al-Fadl ibn Sahl dissuaded him from this course and encouraged him to seek support among
9398-539: The interaction of two antecedent cultures. Its immediate predecessor in the Ural-Tobol steppe was the Poltavka culture , an offshoot of the cattle-herding Yamnaya horizon that moved east into the region between 2800 and 2600 BC. Several Sintashta towns were built over older Poltavka settlements or close to Poltavka cemeteries, and Poltavka motifs are common on Sintashta pottery. Sintashta material culture also shows
9525-588: The literature of Avesta . The earliest epigraphically attested reference to the word arya- occurs in the Bistun Inscription of the 6th century BC. The inscription of Bistun (or Behistun ; Old Persian : Bagastana ) describes itself to have been composed in Arya [language or script]. As is also the case for all other Old Iranian language usage, the arya of the inscription does not signify anything but Iranian . In royal Old Persian inscriptions,
9652-469: The local population for the "son of their sister". Al-Ma'mun enjoyed the support of the local elites of Khurasan mainly because they saw in him a champion of their newly won autonomy, and because he himself assiduously cultivated that support. Later, during the war, the prospect of his victory also offered the Khurasanis the promise of a yet more privileged position in the new regime. However, the conflict
9779-809: The mid-1st millennium BC, the territory of the Iranian peoples stretched across the entire Eurasian Steppe ; from the Danubian Plains in the west to the Ordos Plateau in the east and the Iranian Plateau in the south. The ancient Iranian peoples who emerged after the 1st millennium BC include the Alans , the Bactrians , the Dahae , the Khwarazmians , the Massagetae , the Medes ,
9906-501: The ministers al-Fadl b. Rabi and al-Fadl b. Sahl ; or as a struggle between Arabs and Persians for the control of the government". The origins of the civil war lie in the succession arrangements of Harun al-Rashid ( r. 786–809 ) as well as the internal political dynamics of the Abbasid Caliphate . The two main contenders, Muhammad al-Amin and Abdallah al-Ma'mun , were born six months apart in AH 170 (786/7) with al-Ma'mun being
10033-477: The mountainous terrain and the Khurramites' guerrilla tactics, with Ibn Humayd losing his life as well. It was not until the accession of al-Mu'tasim, who employed his new military corps composed of Turkish slave-soldiers ( mawali or ghilman ) against the Khurramites, that their rebellion was suppressed in 837, after years of hard campaigning. Despite the restoration of caliphal authority in most provinces,
10160-412: The native population of Khurasan, who also opposed control by the caliphal court. Al-Ma'mun, who was already favourably regarded after the excesses of Ali ibn Isa, consciously set about to cultivate the support of the local population, reducing taxes, dispensing justice in person, conceding privileges to the native princes, and demonstratively evoking episodes from the beginnings of the Abbasid movement in
10287-426: The news of the Alid succession ruined his attempts at conciliation. Instead, on 17 July 817 the members of the Abbasid family in Baghdad nominated a new Caliph of their own, Harun al-Rashid's younger brother Ibrahim . Ibrahim received broad backing from the Baghdad elites, from Abbasid princes like al-Ma'mun's younger brother Abu Ishaq (the future Caliph al-Mu'tasim , r. 833–842 ) to old-established members of
10414-477: The ownership of the Barmakid family. However, after Ja'far ibn Yahya's death and the Barmakids' downfall, she went into hiding. Despite efforts by Caliph al-Rashid to find her, she remained elusive. Following al-Rashid's death, she became the property of al-Amin, staying with him until his demise, after which she fled. She later married al-Haytham ibn Bassam and bore him a son named Abdullah. Upon al-Haytham's death, she married al-Sindi ibn al-Harashi. Another concubine
10541-527: The political climate and made the breach irreparable. After al-Ma'mun symbolically removed al-Amin's name from his coins and from the Friday prayer , in November 810 al-Amin removed al-Ma'mun and al-Mu'tamin from the succession and nominated his own sons Musa and Abdallah instead. Al-Ma'mun replied by declaring himself imam , a religious title which shied of directly challenging the Caliph but nevertheless implied independent authority, as well as hearkening back to
10668-475: The political climate and made the breach irreparable. After al-Ma'mun symbolically removed al-Amin's name from his coins and from the Friday prayer , in November 810 al-Amin removed al-Ma'mun and al-Mu'tamin from the succession and nominated his own sons Musa and Abdallah instead. Al-Ma'mun replied by declaring himself imam , a religious title which shied of directly challenging the Caliph but nevertheless implied independent authority, as well as hearkening back to
10795-493: The political turmoil quickly subsided. Al-Ma'mun now set about to reconcile himself with the opposition: he rescinded the Alid succession, restored black as the dynastic colour, sent Hasan ibn Sahl into retirement, and recalled Tahir from his exile in Raqqa. Al-Ma'mun did however retain the title of imam , which became part of the standard caliphal titulature. During the 812–813 siege of Baghdad, Tahir had established close ties with
10922-445: The powerful Barmakid family as tutors: al-Amin's tutor was al-Fadl ibn Yahya , while al-Ma'mun's was Ja'far ibn Yahya . These arrangements were confirmed and publicly proclaimed in 802, when Harun and the most powerful officials of the Abbasid government made the pilgrimage to Mecca . Al-Amin would succeed Harun in Baghdad , but al-Ma'mun would remain al-Amin's heir and would additionally rule over an enlarged Khurasan . This
11049-400: The powerful chamberlain ( hajib ) and chief minister al-Fadl ibn al-Rabi , to travel to the province in 808. Al-Ma'mun was sent ahead with part of the army to Marv , while Harun stayed at Tus , where he died on 24 March 809. Upon Harun's death, al-Amin ascended the throne in Baghdad, where his popularity was great, while al-Ma'mun remained at Marv, from where he planned to campaign against
11176-479: The prestige and image of the Abbasid dynasty. According to Elton Daniel, "It shattered the sacrosanct aura which had surrounded the person of the Abbasid caliphs; For the first time, an Abbasid ruler had been humiliated and put to death by rebellious subjects". As al-Ma'mun remained in Marv and made no signs of returning to the caliphal capital, a wave of Arab antipathy towards al-Ma'mun and his "Persian" supporters came to
11303-640: The process of consolidation was harder, or failed completely: Aghlabid-controlled Ifriqiya was confirmed in its autonomous status, effectively slipping entirely from Abbasid control, while in Adharbayjan, al-Ma'mun's general Isa ibn Abi Khalid re-established control over the various local Muslim lords in the cities, but was unable to suppress the Khurramite revolt. Expeditions were sent against the Khurramites under Sadaka ibn Ali al-Azdi in 824 and Muhammad ibn Humayd al-Ta'i in 827–829, but both failed before
11430-489: The province in 808. Al-Ma'mun was sent ahead with part of the army to Marv , while Harun stayed at Tus , where he died on 24 March 809. When Harun al-Rashid died in March 809. (Harun had dismissed Ali and replaced him with Harthama ibn A'yan , and in 808 marched himself east to deal with the rebel Rafi ibn al-Layth , but died in March 809 while at Tus ). Al-Amin smoothly succeeded him. The majority of army commanders on
11557-501: The province. He now became a "political magnet for Iranian sympathisers" (El-Hibri) refused to cede his province or return to Baghdad, and began to gather around him those dissatisfied with Baghdad's centralizing policies or who had simply been left out of the share of spoils and power after the Abbasid Revolution. Under the influence of their respective chief ministers, al-Amin and al-Ma'mun took steps that further polarized
11684-474: The provinces, especially Khurasan, where local elites had a long-standing rivalry with the abnāʾ and their tendency to control of the province (and its revenues) from Iraq. The harsh taxation imposed by a prominent member of the abnāʾ , Ali ibn Isa ibn Mahan , even led to a revolt under Rafi ibn al-Layth , which eventually forced Harun himself, accompanied by al-Ma'mun and the powerful chamberlain ( hajib ) and chief minister al-Fadl ibn al-Rabi , to travel to
11811-448: The provinces, especially Khurasan, where, according to Elton L. Daniel , "Abbasid policies [fluctuated] between two extremes. One governor would attempt to extract as much wealth as he could from the province for the benefit of Iraq, the central government, and, not infrequently, himself. When the people protested loudly enough, such governors would be temporarily replaced by ones who would attend to local interests". The Khurasani elites had
11938-490: The remaining rebels. However, al-Amin recalled the army and treasury from the east, leaving al-Ma'mun with little in the way of military forces. It was in this time that al-Ma'mun came to rely upon his wazir , the former Barmakid protégé al-Fadl ibn Sahl , who began to implement a policy of conciliation and cooperation with the local elites, whose autonomy and privileges were guaranteed. The covenant of 802 however soon began to fall apart over Baghdad's centralizing ambitions and
12065-404: The rightful Caliph, until a counter-coup, led by other factions within the abnaʾ , restored al-Amin to the throne. Fadl ibn al-Rabi, however, one of the main instigators of the war, concluded that al-Amin's case was lost and resigned from his court offices. At about the same time, al-Ma'mun was officially proclaimed caliph, while Fadl ibn Sahl acquired the unique title of Dhu 'l-Ri'asatayn ("he of
12192-496: The same time, the willingness of al-Ma'mun and his successors to embrace the non-Arab populations of the Caliphate, especially in the Iranian East, as well as to entrust the governance of these provinces to local dynasties with considerable autonomy, helped to end a long series of religiously-motivated rebellions and reconciled these populations to Islam: the rate of conversion during al-Ma'mun's reign increased markedly, and that
12319-524: The social and political order of the early Abbasid state, and a new system began to emerge under al-Ma'mun, which would characterize the middle period of the Abbasid Caliphate. The most tangible change was in the elites who supported the new regime: the abnaʾ , the old Arab families and the members of the Abbasid dynasty itself lost their positions in the administrative and military machinery, and with them their influence and power. The provinces of
12446-531: The sole individual to continue the lineage of al-Amin. According to the Muslim historian Al Tabari, Al-Amin fell madly in love with one of his male slaves named Kauthar, whom he had named after a river in heaven. In an effort to dissuade her son from Kauthar, al-Amin's mother insisted that his female slaves dress in men's attire to encourage him to engage in sexual relationships with them. In 812, Tahir advanced and set up camp near Baghdad's Anbar Gate and besieged
12573-510: The south, while his rival Ali ibn Abd al-Aziz al-Jarawi and his Qaysi Arabs controlled the north of the country around the Nile Delta . In addition, Alexandria was in the hands of a group of Andalusian exiles. In northern Syria and the Jazira, the traditionally dominant Qays tribe had taken control, led by Abdallah ibn Bayhas and Nasr ibn Shabath al-Uqayli . Ifriqiya had fallen under
12700-486: The term Iranic as the name for the linguistic family of this category (many of which are spoken outside Iran), while Iranian for anything about the country Iran. He uses the same analogue as in differentiating German from Germanic or differentiating Turkish and Turkic . German scholar Martin Kümmel also argues for the same distinction of Iranian from Iranic . The Proto-Indo-Iranians are commonly identified with
12827-512: The term arya- appears in three different contexts: In the Dna and Dse, Darius and Xerxes describe themselves as "an Achaemenid, a Persian, son of a Persian, and an Aryan, of Aryan stock". Although Darius the Great called his language arya- ("Iranian"), modern scholars refer to it as Old Persian because it is the ancestor of the modern Persian language. The trilingual inscription erected by
12954-494: The throne went to al-Ma'mun. Iranian peoples Pontic Steppe Caucasus East Asia Eastern Europe Northern Europe Pontic Steppe Northern/Eastern Steppe Europe South Asia Steppe Europe Caucasus India Indo-Aryans Iranians East Asia Europe East Asia Europe Indo-Aryan Iranian Indo-Aryan Iranian Others European The Iranian peoples , or
13081-470: The title "God's Caliph". Taking note of the widespread Alid support in his western provinces, al-Ma'mun not only spared the lives of the various Alid anti-caliphs, but on 24 March 817 also named the Alid Ali ibn Musa al-Ridha , third son of Musa al-Kadhim, as his heir apparent, and even changed the official dynastic colour from Abbasid black to Alid green. Although the seriousness of al-Ma'mun's commitment to
13208-465: The two camps becoming more estranged every day, if al-Amin was to have a chance to succeed, the power of the Barmakids had to be broken. Indeed, the years after the fall of the Barmakids saw an increasing centralization of the administration and the concomitant rise of the influence of the abnāʾ , many of whom were now dispatched to take up positions as provincial governors and bring these provinces under closer control from Baghdad. This led to unrest in
13335-534: The two headships"), signifying his control over both civil and military administration. In spring 812, Tahir, reinforced with more troops under Harthama ibn A'yan , resumed his offensive. He invaded Khuzistan , where he defeated and killed the Muhallabid governor Muhammad ibn Yazid , whereupon the Muhallabids of Basra surrendered to him. Tahir also took Kufa and al-Mada'in , advancing on Baghdad from
13462-551: The verbal root of ar- in Old Iranian arya- . The following are according to 1957 and later linguists: Unlike the Sanskrit ārya- ( Aryan ), the Old Iranian term has solely an ethnic meaning. Today, the Old Iranian arya- remains in ethno-linguistic names such as Iran , Alan , Ir , and Iron . In the Iranian languages , the gentilic is attested as a self-identifier included in ancient inscriptions and
13589-401: The west while Harthama closed in from the east. At the same time, al-Amin's authority crumbled as supporters of al-Ma'mun took control of Mosul , Egypt and the Hejaz , while most of Syria, Armenia and Adharbayjan fell under the control of local Arab tribal leaders. As Tahir's army closed on Baghdad, the rift between al-Amin and the abnaʾ was solidified when the desperate Caliph turned to
13716-468: The western borders of Khurasan, and the ensuing battle on 3 July 811 resulted in a crushing victory for the Khurasanis, in which Ali was killed and his army disintegrated on its flight west. Tahir's unexpected victory was decisive: al-Ma'mun's position was secured, while his main opponents, the abnaʾ , lost men, prestige and their most dynamic leader. Tahir now advanced westwards, defeated another abnaʾ army of 20,000 under Abd al-Rahman ibn Jabala after
13843-538: Was Hadiyya. She was a singer, who had been trained and presented to al-Amin by his uncle Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdi . Another concubine was Badhal. She had been formerly a concubine of al-Amin's cousin Ja'far bin al-Hadi . She hailed from Medina and was raised in Basra. Described as charming with fair skin, she was praised for her musical talent, particularly her skill in playing instruments, and was known for her exceptional ability as
13970-485: Was a Persian slave concubine, and his pure Abbasid lineage gave Muhammad seniority over his half-brother. Indeed, he was the only Abbasid caliph to claim such descent. Already in 792, Harun had Muhammad receive the oath of allegiance ( bay'ah ) with the name of al-Amīn ("The Trustworthy"), effectively marking him out as his main heir, while Abdallah was not named second heir, under the name al-Maʾmūn ("The Trusted One") until 799. Both brothers were assigned members of
14097-558: Was able to use this turmoil and advance north, capturing Mada'in. As the months passed, discontent in Baghdad grew. Ibrahim's supporters, including Fadl ibn al-Rabi, began abandoning him, and in April and July 819 there was a plot to take Ibrahim captive and surrender him to al-Ma'mun's forces. Narrowly escaping from this conspiracy, Ibrahim abandoned the throne and went into hiding, opening the path for al-Ma'mun to reclaim Baghdad. On 17 August 819, al-Ma'mun entered Baghdad without resistance, and
14224-478: Was also added as third heir and received responsibility over the frontier areas with the Byzantine Empire . The stipulations of the agreement, extensively recorded by the historian al-Tabari , may however have been distorted by later apologists of al-Ma'mun, especially as regards the extent of the autonomy granted to al-Ma'mun's eastern viceroyalty. Almost immediately after it returned to Baghdad, in January 803,
14351-533: Was also responsible for side-lining many other supporters of al-Ma'mun; thus, when Harthama ibn A'yan went to Marv to inform al-Ma'mun of the real situation in the west, the Sahlids turned the Caliph against him and he was executed on charges of treason in June 816. In response, Harthama's son Hatim led a short-lived revolt in Armenia. The result of these policies was that revolts and local power struggles erupted across
14478-467: Was an appointment of particular significance, as Khurasan had been the starting-point of the Abbasid Revolution which brought the Abbasids to power, and retained a privileged position among the Caliphate's provinces. Furthermore, the Abbasid dynasty relied heavily on Khurasanis as military leaders and administrators. Many of the original Khurasani Arab army ( Khurasaniyya ) that came west with
14605-456: Was appointed to Khurasan in 793, but was re-fanned in 796, when a member of the abnaʾ , Ali ibn Isa ibn Mahan , was placed in charge of the province. His harsh taxation measures provoked increasing unrest, which expressed itself in Kharijite uprisings and, finally, a rebellion by the governor of Samarkand , Rafi ibn al-Layth . This uprising forced Harun himself, accompanied by al-Ma'mun and
14732-471: Was careful to cultivate his ties with the Iranian element of the Caliphate, not least through his promotion of the Khurasani Barmakid family to positions of power. Both al-Amin and al-Ma'mun had been tutored in their youth by the Barmakids, al-Amin by al-Fadl ibn Yahya and al-Ma'mun by Ja'far ibn Yahya . While al-Amin would distance himself from the Barmakids and become closely associated with
14859-523: Was deposed and killed in 813, during the civil war by his half-brother, al-Ma'mun . Muhammad, the future al-Amin, was born in April 787 to the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid ( r. 786–809 ) and Zubayda , herself descended from the second Abbasid caliph, al-Mansur ( r. 754–775 ). Muhammad had an elder half-brother, Abdallah, the future al-Ma'mun ( r. 813–833 ), who had been born in September 786. However, Abdallah's mother
14986-414: Was far greater than the Sahlids presented it to be, and that a reconciliation with Baghdad was necessary. Al-Ma'mun now resolved to assume personal control of his empire, and on 22 January 818 he left Marv and began a very slow journey west to Baghdad. Fadl ibn Sahl was murdered on 13 February, probably on al-Ma'mun's orders, although the rest of his family was spared a persecution like that which had befallen
15113-485: Was fierce fighting and Abd al-Malik died. Al-Amin sent Ahmad ibn Mazyad and Abdallah ibn Humayd east, each with an army (al-Tabari v. 31 p. 100 says each had 20,000 men). However, Tahir's agents sowed discord and these two armies fought against each other. Al-Amin faced an uprising in Baghdad led by Ali ibn Isa's son Husayn. This was quelled and Husayn was killed. Under the influence of their respective ministers, al-Amin and al-Ma'mun took steps that further polarized
15240-503: Was first and foremost a dynastic dispute, with al-Amin attempting to institute a direct patrilineal succession. In this he did nothing but follow the footsteps of his predecessors since al-Mansur , all of whom struggled against the claims of brothers or cousins. Harun al-Rashid himself was imprisoned during the brief reign of his elder brother al-Hadi ( r. 785–786 ). Given to indolence and lacking any political ability himself, al-Amin entrusted this project to al-Fadl ibn al-Rabi, who
15367-401: Was less prestigious than the purely Arab al-Amin, his ties to Khurasan and the Iranian -dominated eastern provinces were an important factor in his choice as heir. In contrast to the exclusively Arab-ruled Umayyad Caliphate , the Abbasid state was under heavy Iranian, and particularly Khurasani, influence. The Abbasid Revolution , which brought the Abbasids to power, originated in Khurasan, and
15494-558: Was placed on the Anbar Gate. Al-Tabari (v. 31 pp. 197–202) quotes Tahir's letter to al-Ma'mun informing him of al-Amin's capture and execution and the state of peace resulting in Baghdad. When al-Amin was killed, one of Zubaidah's eunuchs came to her and appealed to her to seek vengeance for al-Amin's blood as Aisha sought vengeance for the blood of Uthman (According to Eunuch's view). Zubaida, however, refused to do so. As al-Ma'mun refused to acknowledge al-Amin's son Musa as heir,
15621-422: Was proclaimed rival caliph at Baghdad in 817, forcing al-Ma'mun to intervene in person. Fadl ibn Sahl was assassinated and al-Ma'mun left Khurasan for Baghdad, which he entered in 819. The next years saw the consolidation of al-Ma'mun's authority and the re-incorporation of the western provinces against local rebels, a process not completed until the pacification of Egypt in 827. Some local rebellions, notably that of
15748-554: Was prompted to move against al-Ma'mun by meddlesome ministers, especially al-Fadl ibn al-Rabi' . He had Harun's succession documents brought from Mecca to Baghdad, where he destroyed them. Then, he sent agents east to stir opposition to al-Ma'mun. However, a careful watch at the frontier denied them the opportunity. Al-Amin denied al-Ma'mun's request for his family and money and kept them in Baghdad. Al-Amin faced unrest in Syria . He sent Abd al-Malik ibn Salih to restore order there. There
15875-410: Was the mother of his son Musa. She died during his reign, and he mourned her loss deeply. When his mother Zubaydah learned of his sorrow, she came to offer him solace, by reciting fitting verses from poetry. Another concubine was Umm Abdullah. She was the mother of his son Abdullah. She was a poetess. Another concubine was Arib . She asserted that she was the daughter of Ja'far ibn Yahya , a member of
16002-416: Was the time when most of the local princely families of the Iranian lands finally became Muslims. As El-Hibri comments, "in time this development represented a prelude to the emergence of autonomous provincial dynasties in the east, which would relate to the caliphal centre in nominal terms of loyalty only". ^ a: At the outbreak of the civil war, large parts of Syria threw off allegiance to
16129-403: Was to have a chance to succeed, the power of the Barmakids had to be broken. Indeed, the years after the fall of the Barmakids saw an increasing centralization of the administration and the concomitant rise of the influence of the abnaʾ , many of whom were now dispatched to take up positions as provincial governors and bring these provinces under closer control from Baghdad. This led to unrest in
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