The Caliphate: Its Rise, Decline, and Fall/Chapter 64

by William Muir

CHAPTER LXIV

AL-HĀDI AND HĀRŪN AR-RASHĪD

169–193 A.H. 785–809 A.D.

Hādi
169 A.H.
785 A.D.Hārūn wisely recognised the succession of his brother Al-Hādi, and at once despatched to him in Jurjān the imperial seal and sceptre. The army that had accompanied his father was dismissed to Bagdad, where it broke out into mutiny, stormed the Wazīr's house, and demanded largess. Kheizurān summoned the Wazīr and Yaḥya son of Khālid the Barmeki; but the latter, knowing Al-Hādi's jealousy of his mother, took upon him, without waiting on her, to satisfy the troops by a two years' grant. The Wazīr, who obeyed her call, nearly forfeited his life for doing so; but by the offer of large gifts regained the Caliph's favour.

ʿAlid rising the Medīna.In the short reign of Al-Hādi few events occur of interest outside the Capital. There was a Khāriji rising in Mesopotamia; and also an ʿAlid, in Mecca and Medīna. Strange to say, this last arose from the intemperance of some members of the saintly house of ʿAlī, who for drinking wine were paraded with halters about their necks in the streets of the Holy Cities. The family thereupon broke out into rebellion, and some hard fighting was needed before peace could be restored. Among those who escaped was Idrīs, a brother of the Pure Soul and the Slain of Bākhamra.Idrīs escapes to Africa. Aided by postal relays, he made his escape from the battlefield of Fakh near Mecca, through Egypt to Tangier, where he was welcomed by the Berbers, and laid the foundation of the Idrīsid dynasty. The postmaster of Egypt was beheaded for having connived at his flight.^[1]

Hādi resents interference of Kheizurān.Though Al-Hādi resembled his father in most things, in one he differed, for he would not allow Kheizurān to have any hand in the affairs of State. Accustomed as that lady had been to crowds of suitors seeking influence with her husband, when she attempted the like with her son, he bade her mind her own concerns, withdrew her escort, and forbade the courtiers to wait upon her.^[2] The proud woman smarted under the insult, and watched the opportunity for revenge.

His cruel treatment of heretics.In his treatment of the Manichæans, Al-Hādi followed too closely at once the counsel and example of his father. Strange to say, there were amongst these heretics several of Hāshimi descent, whom Al-Mehdi, having sworn never to take the life of any of his own house, left to his son with the fatal injunction to put them all to death. How this pestilent heresy found adherents among the faithful of Arabia and Al-ʿIrāḳ, is difficult to understand, and one may hope that of many sins laid to their charge, they were falsely accused.^[3] Shortly before his death Al-Mehdi declared that he would destroy the whole brood of the Zanādiḳa, root and branch; and he is said to have ordered a thousand palm-stakes to be erected, on which as many heretics should be impaled,—a report, the existence of which shows at any-rate the prevailing belief in the intensity of his hatred towards the sect.

Hādi endeavours to supersede Hārūn.Following his father also in another respect, Al-Hādi formed the project of setting his brother aside, and proclaiming his, young son heir-apparent. He was supported by all the court, excepting Yaḥya the Barmeki, who succeeded once and again in dissuading him from so precipitate and unwise a step. Hārūn, now treated with indignity, retired into private life. At last, after much vacillation, the Caliph, at the instigation of the creatures around him, who were forward to take the oath, proclaimed his son successor, and cast Yaḥya into prison. Al-Hādi was just then at his country seat near Mosul; and there he fell sick and died.His death. His end is obscure. The ordinary version is that when he sickened, his mother induced certain of his slave-girls to smother him. We are told further that she had despatches in readiness for the various governors to recognise the succession of Hārūn, which would imply complicity of some kind in the death of Al-Hādi. We hear little more of her; and she herself died shortly after.

Under Al-Hādi and the two following Caliphs Persian influence and fashion reached their height. The new year and other festivals were observed, and Persian dress and hats began to be worn and continued for several reigns. The tendency to exalt the non-Arabs at the expense of the Arabs took formal shape in the movement of the Shuʿūbīya or Nationalism, which aimed at the exaltation of the subject nations, and especially the Persians. Its members claimed that the Persians, it might be, or Greeks, were in every way superior to the Arabs, both in arts and sciences, and even in what these claimed as specially their own, the study of genealogies and the practice of the virtues of the desert.^[4]

Hārūn succeeds,
170 A.H.
786 A.D.On his brother's death, Hārūn, now nearly twenty-five years of age, emerging from his retirement, hastened to the Court, performed the funeral obsequies, and was saluted Caliph without opposition. Al-Hādi's young son was easily persuaded to drop his claim; but a circumstance connected with it showed thus early that Hārūn, though called Rashīd, was as prone to vindictive cruelty, if moved to hate or jealousy, as any of his predecessors.Instance of capricious cruelty. When some time before, Hārūn was about to cross the Tigris, the courtier in charge of Al-Hādi's son called out from the other side of the bridge to "stay until the heir-apparent had passed over"; and Hārūn answered angrily:—"The Amīr's humble servant!" The incident rankled in his breast, and on his accession he had the unlucky courtier put to death.

On the day of accession, his son Al-Maʾmūn was born, and Al-Amīn some little time later:—the latter, as son of Zubeida granddaughter of Al-Manṣūr, taking precedence over the former, whose mother was a Persian slave-girl.Recovers his ring in the Tigris. As the new Caliph crossed the bridge re-entering Bagdad, he bade divers to search in the river for the "Mountain," a famous ring worth 100,000 golden pieces, given to him by his father. On Al-Hādi's demanding this ring, he had some time before flung it into the Tigris; and now as he pointed out the spot, it was discovered by the divers, to his great delight.

The Barmekīs.Yaḥya the Barmeki, whom Al-Hādi had imprisoned and threatened with death, was now brought to Court and installed as Wazīr. His two sons, Al-Faḍl and Jaʿfar, also exercised unbounded power;—the former, foster-brother of the Caliph, and a statesman of unrivalled ability;^[5] the latter, the favourite of Hārūn and boon companion of his privacy. These were the three leading men of the Barmeki house, the fall of which, seventeen years later, has left an indelible stigma on the Caliph's name.

Hārūn's religious life.Hārūn is noted for his careful observance of the ritual of Islām: daily he performed one hundred prostrations, and distributed 1000 dirhems in alms. In the first year of his reign he performed the pilgrimage to Mecca, and repeated it afterwards some nine different times. On every occasion he scattered munificent largesses amongst the people, and carried in his train crowds of indigent pilgrims.Magnificent court. He was surrounded also by a magnificent court, both when on pilgrimage and on other journeys, and by a host of learned men, doctors of the law, poets, and philosophers; and it is in part these princely progresses that have shed so great a lustre on this reign.

Wise, and, on the whole, just.Hārūn was perhaps the ablest ruler of the ʿAbbāsid race. He is likened to Al-Manṣūr, but without his parsimony. If we except some flagrant instances of tyrannous cruelty, his government was wise and just; as without doubt, it was grand and prosperous. Bold and active in his habits, he followed up his early campaign against the Greeks, by repeatedly himself again appearing in the field.Dislikes Bagdad, and retires to Raḳḳa. Eight or nine years after his accession, he forsook Bagdad and set up his court at Ar-Raḳḳa, in the north of Syria, This he did ostensibly to hold disloyal Syria in check, in spite (as he would say) of his loving Bagdad better than any other place in the whole world. But it seems likelier that he had contracted an aversion towards Bagdad, for he never again resided there, and seldom even visited it.

Rising at Mosul,
171 A.H.In the second year of this reign, a serious rising under a Khāriji leader stirred the whole province of Mosul into insurrection. Abu Hureira, the governor of Mesopotamia, was discomfited by the rebel, who gained possession of the city. Fresh troops were despatched, and in the end peace was restored.Death of Abu Hureira. But the Caliph was so displeased with the failure of Abu Hureira, that he was in consequence brought to Bagdad, and there put to death.

Asia Minor.The security of the Syrian frontier was the early care of Hārūn, both on the side of Armenia threatened by the Khazar hordes, and of Asia Minor threatened by the Greeks.Created separate government,
170 A.H. One of his first acts was to create a new charge towards the west, under a Turkish general,^[6] with Tarsus as its strongly fortified headquarters. War was waged almost every year with the Greeks, and Hārūn over and again either joined his forces, or watched their progress on the frontier, for which his residence at Ar-Raḳḳa gave him easy opportunity.Naval operations,
175 A.H. The Muslims also began to be successful at sea; Crete and Cyprus were attacked and the Greek admiral taken prisoner.^[7] In the raids on the frontier, a multitude of captives and vast booty were secured. But fortune varied; there were serious reverses, and on one occasion, severe loss and suffering from cold in the passes.Hārūn takes the field,
181 A.H. In 181 A.H., Hārūn headed a large force in person, and, Constantinople being distracted at home, great victories were achieved as far as Ephesus and Ancyra. Prisoners were thereafter exchanged; 4000 Muslims were recovered amid great rejoicings;Irene tributary,
186 A.H. and Irene, on payment of tribute, obtained a four years' truce. An advance was subsequently made by Al-Ḳāsim, the Caliph's third son, but withdrawn on the Greeks sending in several hundred prisoners. A sudden irruption of the Khazar into Armenia was with difficulty repelled.

Soon after, Nicephorus having succeeded to the throne is said to have sent this insulting epistle to the Caliph:—"From Nicephorus, king of the Greeks, to Hārūn, king of the Arabs, Irene hath parted with the castle, and contented herself with the pawn. She had paid thee moneys, the double of which thou shouldest have paid to her. It was but a woman's weakness. Wherefore, return what thou hast taken, or the sword shall decide."Insulting letter of Nicephorus,
187 A.H.
803 A.D. Hārūn reading the letter, fell into a rage, and calling for pen and ink wrote on the back of the letter:—"From Hārūn, Commander of the Faithful, to Nicephorus, dog of the Greeks.Hārūn's reply. I have read thy letter, son of an unbelieving mother. The answer is for thine eye to see, not for thine ear to hear." And Hārūn was as good as his word; at once he started and ravaged the land as far as Heraclea, before the Emperor, hampered by rebels, had stirred a step; and so an ignominious peace, and renewed tribute, were the end of such foolish boasting.Disasters of Nicephorus,
190 A.H.
806 A.D. Over and again when Hārūn was engaged elsewhere, Nicephorus broke his treaty, and as often was beaten. At last, near the close of his reign, the Caliph marched again with 135,000 men, took possession of Heraclea and Tyana, and besides tribute, reduced Nicephorus to the contempt of a personal impost on himself and on each member of the Imperial house. Cyprus was anew overrun; 10,000 prisoners carried off to Syria; and for the ransom of its Bishop alone, 2000 golden pieces had to be paid.191 A.H. But in the following year the Greeks once more advanced, and inflicted severe loss on the enemy both at Marʿash and Tarsus, which Hārūn, having trouble elsewhere on his hands, was not in a position to retrieve. The end of it all—the bitter end of all such wars,—was to inflame religious hate. The Caliph caused all churches in the border-lands to be cast down, and the obnoxious distinctions of dress and equipage to be enforced with the utmost rigour upon the Christian population.

Africa:
opposition of native tribes,
178–181 A.H.Africa continued further and further to drift from ʿAbbāsid control. After various fortune of victory and defeat, Harthama, an able general, was despatched with a large force, and succeeded in beating down opposition; but a short experience convinced him that hostile interests throughout the land were so inveterate as to leave little hope of eventual success; and, anxious now for the more attractive field of the East, he resigned.Harthama retires. Thereafter the Aghlabid dynasty, though at first nominally subordinate to Bagdad, became eventually independent at Ḳairawān; as already was the Idrīsid at Tangier in the farther West.

Syria: tribal fighting,
176–177 A.H.In 176 A.H., the ancient Syrian jealousies between the two Arab stocks of the North and South broke out into open feud, and kept Damascus for two years in continual ferment; a state of things, however, which gave the Caliph little concern, as it simply weakened the power of the disloyal Syrians. Ten years afterwards they began again to fight against each other; but this time Hārūn interfered to compose their differences.Mosul,
178–180 A.H. Somewhat later Mosul was the scene of a rebellion, which lasted two years, until Hārūn himself took possession of the city, razed its walls, and was again with difficulty dissuaded from destroying it altogether.Khāriji rising in Armenia and Ḥolwān,
177 A.H. A still more alarming outbreak occurred at Naṣībīn under a Khāriji leader, Al-Welīd ibn Ṭarif, who, after ravaging Armenia and Azerbījān, descended on Mesopotamia, and crossing the Tigris to Ḥolwān held the whole province in terror. In the end he was defeated and slain. This campaign is notable for the beautiful elegy of Leila on the death of her brother the rebel—to avenge which she had ridden forth disguised in armour, but retired in maidenly confusion on being recognised by the general of the Caliph's army. Hārūn was so alarmed at the near approach of this danger, that to commemorate the victory, he performed in thanksgiving both the Lesser and the Greater pilgrimage, visiting on foot the various Holy stations.^[8]

Treacherous dealings with the Ḥasani prince of Deilem,
176 A.H.Passing over various outbreaks on the outskirts of the Empire, there is one of these in the north which deserves notice as illustrating the faithlessness of the Caliph. Yaḥya, another brother of the Pure Soul and of the Slain of Bākhamra, having gained possession of the Deilem, grew so mightily in power as to extend his kingdom to the borders of the Caspian, and attract to his brilliant court followers from all parts of the world. Hārūn, jealous at once of his influence and of his distinguished birth, sent Al-Faḍl the Barmeki, then governor of Persia and Jurjān, with a great army to oppose him. Yaḥya was drawn into an apparently friendly communication with Al-Faḍl, and agreed that he should submit to the Caliph a proposal for presenting himself at Bagdad under a covenant of honourable treatment, the bond to be witnessed not only by doctors of the law but by representatives of the Hāshimi house. Hārūn, overjoyed at the prospect of being rid of his rival, confirmed the covenant with his own hand, and in due course received him with much distinction and princely gifts; but shortly after he allowed his jealousy to override his conscience. The chief Ḳāḍi was obsequious enough to discover a flaw in the document; but an equally distinguished doctor declared that the covenant made with a power backed by an army in the field, was indefeasible. Hārūn, nevertheless, supported by the former, cast Yaḥya into prison; and having called for the solemnly attested document, tore it into shreds.

Amīn heir-apparent,
175 A.H.,While yet but five years old, Hārūn's son by Zubeida, preferred in virtue of his noble birth, was nominated heir-apparent, under the title of Al-Amīn. Some years later, his other son, ʿAbdallah, several months older, was declared the next successor, both being now twelve years of age.and Maʾmūn,
182 A.H. The latter, surnamed Al-Maʾmūn,^[9] was placed under the guardianship of Jaʿfar the Barmeki, and at an early age given charge of Khorāsān and all the countries from Hamadān to farthest East.Hārūn's arrangements at pilgrimage,
186 A.H.
802 A.D. On a brilliant pilgrimage to Mecca, the Caliph presented each of these sons with the munificent gift of a million golden pieces, and caused two documents, witnessed by the chief ministers of state, to be hung up with solemn ceremony in the Kaʿba, inscribed, one in favour of Al-Amīn the other of Al-Maʾmūn. He also gave Mesopotamia and the Greek frontier in charge of Al-Ḳāsim, his youngest son, who might, but only at the discretion of Al-Maʾmūn, succeed to its eventual sovereignty.189 A.H. Further still, some years later, when on a journey to the East, he willed (a singular condition) that the army, with all its treasure and munitions of war, should fall to the lot of Al-Maʾmūn; and he caused oaths of allegiance to the three sons to be renewed both at Bagdad and throughout the Empire in accordance with these arrangements. People marvelled that so wise a ruler should so soon forget the lessons of the past, and from such strange provisions foreboded evil in the future. It is not often that our annalists indulge in reflections such as these; but here we have the proverb applied by them to Hārūn,Hārūn's sons. "Self-conceit makes a man both blind and deaf."

Fall of the Barmekīs.We now come to the startling narrative of the fall of the Barmekīs. The course of this distinguished family has been already traced, from its rise in Balkh, through successive generations, to the highest posts of honour and influence in the State. Yaḥya, son of Khālid, now advanced in years, had resigned office into the hands of his sons Al-Faḍl and Jaʿfar. The former, possessed of boundless authority, and regarded by the people with love and esteem, was virtual ruler of the empire. The latter, more given to indulgence, was the constant companion of Hārūn's hours of pleasure and amusement; yet he also must have inherited the ability of the house, having had charge of the youthful Al-Maʾmūn with the whole government of the East, and though only thirty-seven years of age, had held the office of Wazīr for seventeen years. Poets were never weary of extolling the Barmekīs, nor historians of narrating their virtues, munificence, and power. Suddenly Jaʿfar was put to death, and the family disappears from the scene. The cause assigned was this:—

Story of Jaʿfar's disgrace,Jaʿfar, as said above, was the boon companion of the Caliph, who loved to have his sister ʿAbbāsa also with him at times of recreation and carousal. But Muslim etiquette forbade their common presence; and, to allow of this, Hārūn had the marriage ceremony performed between them, on the understanding that it was purely nominal. But the ban was too weak for ʿAbbāsa. A child given secret birth was sent by her to Mecca; while a maid, quarrelling with her mistress, made known the scandal. Hārūn when on pilgrimage ascertained that the tale was but too true.and death,
187 A.H., On his return to Ar-Raḳḳa, shortly after, he sent a eunuch to slay Jaʿfar, whose body was despatched to Bagdad, and there, divided in two, impaled on either side of the bridge. It continued so for three years, when Hārūn, happening to pass through Bagdad from the East, gave command for the miserable remains to be taken down and burned. On the death of Jaʿfar, his father and brother were both cast into prison at Ar-Raḳḳa, and orders passed all over the empire to confiscate the property of any member of the family, wherever found.and fall of whole Barmeki family. Both Yaḥya, an aged and now heart-broken man, and Al-Faḍl, yet young but paralysed from the shock, died in confinement shortly before Hārūn himself. Men grieved at their death; poets sang the praises of Al-Faḍl, and annalists fill their pages with tales of his princely generosity, and laud his memory as one of the most distinguished of mankind. The grandeur, power, and popularity of the house, as well as the services it had rendered to the dynasty, both in the conduct of the Empire and upbringing of the minor princes, intensified the tragedy and the scandal before the public; and although other causes have been assigned, the fact of Jaʿfar's violent end leaves little doubt as to the general accuracy of the story given above. Hārūn himself kept a mysterious silence. Once questioned by his beautiful and accomplished sister ʿOleiya, he is said to have stayed her with these words:—"Life of my soul! if but my innermost garment knew of it, I would tear it into shreds."^[10]

Another murder.The painful episode was followed by the murder of Ibrāhīm, a faithful friend of Jaʿfar, who mourned over his loss, and in private spoke bitterly of his miserable end. The Caliph hearing of this, invited him to a convivial bout alone, and having plied him with wine, pretended to mourn the loss of Ja‘far, whom, he said, he would now willingly part with half his kingdom to have back again. Ibrāhīm thus deceived, began in his cups to unbosom himself to the apparently repentant monarch, in praise of Jaʿfar and grief at his death. Whereupon Hārūn cast him out, cursing him as a traitor, and shortly after had him put to death.

Persia and Khorāsān,
180 A.H.We turn with relief to notice what was passing on the outskirts of the Empire. The East was fast becoming firmly consolidated under the strong Turkish interest at court. There was, indeed, a serious rebellion under a Khāriji leader, who ravaged Persia and the outlying provinces as far as Herāt, but it was at last put down by the governor, ʿAlī ibn ʿĪsa.Hārūn visits Reiy,
189 A.H. Some years after, the Caliph, hearing unfavourable reports of his lieutenant's tyranny, marched with Al-Maʾmūn to Ar-Reiy. There, to answer the charges against him, he summoned ʿAlī, who by splendid gifts to the Caliph and to the court rendered his position again secure. Hārūn stayed four months at Ar-Reiy, which he loved as his birthplace, and there receiving duty in person from the native chiefs to the north—who still retained something of their ancient power under the suzerainty of the Caliphate—he settled the affairs of Ṭabaristān, the Deilem, and other provinces in that direction. He then returned by Bagdad to his court at Ar-Raḳḳa.

Rebellion of Rāfiʿ in Samarḳand,
190 A.H.Some little time later a serious rebellion arose in the East out of a strange origin. A wealthy lady in Samarḳand, whose husband had been long absent in Bagdad, bethought herself of another, and being told that it was the easiest way of dissolving the knot, abjured Islām and then married her suitor, one Rāfiʿ ibn Leith, a grandson of Naṣr ibn Seiyār. The first husband complained to the Caliph, who, scandalised at the affront on the Muslim faith, not only ordered that Rāfiʿ should divorce the lady, but be paraded on an ass and cast into prison. Thence, however, he effected his escape, and after wandering about the country, returned to Samarḳand, slew the governor, and raised the standard of rebellion. ʿAlī ibn ʿĪsa, alarmed lest Rāfiʿ should steal a march on Merv, quitted Balkh, and set out thither; on which, Rāfiʿ rapidly gained possession of all the country beyond the Oxus. Meanwhile reports again reached the Caliph of the tyranny and rapacity of ʿAlī, and so, with the double view of superseding him, and subduing this rebellion, he sent Harthama, now returned from his African command, with a large force, and secret orders to assume the Government.Harthama supersedes ʿAlī ibn ʿĪsa,
192 A.H. Arrived at Merv, Harthama at first received ʿAlī graciously, but shortly after, showing his patent of command, confiscated the vast wealth of the tyrant, and despatched it on 1500 camels to the avaricious Caliph. ʿAlī himself, seated on a bare-backed camel, was sent in disgrace to Ar-Raḳḳa,—the common fate of rulers of the day.

Harthama's campaign against Rāfiʿ,
192–195 A.H.Harthama lost no time in attacking Rāfiʿ, and gaining the victory, besieged him in Samarḳand; but it was several years before the rebellion was quelled. Meanwhile the Khawārij, taking advantage of the disturbances beyond the Oxus, raised the country to the south of that river, and threatened the eastern province of Persia.Hārūn himself takes the field,
192 A.H.
808 A.D.; Things looked so serious that Hārūn resolved himself on a progress thither, and towards the end of 192 A.H. set out from his residence at Ar-Raḳḳa for the purpose. Leaving Al-Ḳāsim there to control Syria and the West, he journeyed to Bagdad, in charge of which he placed Al-Amīn. He would also have left Al-Maʾmūn behind; but Al-Maʾmūn, dreading lest his father, who had already sickened, should die by the way, in which event Al-Amīn might, with the help of his royal mother, depose him from the government of the East,—asked permission to join the army on the march, which, after some demur, Hārūn granted. Travelling slowly over the mountain range into Persia, Hārūn one day called his physician aside, and, alone under the shelter of a tree, unfolding a silken kerchief that girded his loins, disclosed the fatal disease he laboured under. "But have a care," he said, "that thou keep it secret; for my sons, (and he named them all and their guardians) are watching the hour of my decease, as thou mayest see by the shuffling steed they will now mount me on, adding thus to mine infirmity." There is something touching in these plaintive words of the great Monarch, now alone in the world, and bereft of the support even of those who were bound to rally round him in his hour of weakness.sickens on the way,
ii. 193 A.H.
End of 808 A.D.; Early in the following year he reached Jurjān,, where, becoming worse, he sent on Al-Maʾmūn with a portion of the army to Merv; and himself, journeying slowly, reached Ṭūs, where, despairing of life, he had his grave dug close by his dwelling-place. The brother of Rāfiʿ was brought in a prisoner when Hārūn was near his end; "If I had no more breath left," he said, "but to say a single word, it should be Slay him"; and so the dismembered wretch was slain before the dying monarch.dies, vi.
193 A.H.
March, 809 A.D. Shortly after, he breathed his last, and one of his younger sons prayed over the bier. He was forty-seven years of age, and had reigned three-and-twenty. When nineteen, he married Zubeida of royal birth, who survived him over thirty years. He had seven wives, but only four were alive at his death. Besides Al-Amīn, the son of Zubeida, there were ten sons and fourteen daughters, all the progeny of slave-girls.

Embassy to Hārūn from Charles the Great.Though not mentioned by native chroniclers, Hārūn received an embassy from Charles the Great,—two Christians and a Jew, who sought that facilities might be afforded to the West for pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and also for the fostering of trade. They returned with splendid gifts, elephants, rare ornaments, and a water clock; but the effort was followed by no material result. An embassy was also sent by Hārūn to the Chinese emperor, no doubt to establish friendly relations with his rulers on the trans-Oxus border; but neither is this mentioned by the Muslim annalists.^[11]

Splendid reign.Hārūn and his son Al-Maʾmūn, stand out in history as the greatest ʿAbbāsid monarchs. Hārūn might indeed have been ranked along with some of the best of the Umeiyad dynasty, had it not been for the dark spots of treacherous cruelty that stain his whole career.^[12] Splendid in his courtly surroundings and princely in his liberality, he yet amassed vast treasures,—leaving 900 millions in his vault,—by oppressive and often unscrupulous means. His administration, with these exceptions, was just and prosperous. Accustomed from youth to martial life, he frequently joined his troops in the field; and his many victories, especially over the Greeks, have shed lustre on his reign. No Caliph, either before or after, displayed such energy and activity in his various progresses whether for pilgrimage, for administration, or for war. But what has chiefly made this Caliphate illustrious, is that it ushered in the era of letters. His Court was the centre to which, from all parts, flocked the wise and the learned, and at which rhetoric, poetry, history and law, as well as science, medicine, music, and the arts, met with a genial and princely reception,—all which bore ample fruit in the succeeding reigns.^[13]

Even when shorn of its romance.As with Solomon, the witchery of Oriental romance, as in the Thousand and One Nights, has cast an adventitious glow around the life of Hārūn ar-Rashīd; but even when that has faded away before the prosaic realities of history, enough remains to excite wonder and admiration at the splendour of this monarch's Caliphate.

1. Some authorities lay this at the door of Hārūn, and Weil charges it against that Caliph as one of his cruel acts.
2. He is even said to have attempted to poison her, but the imputation is doubtful. Weil thinks it was fabricated to justify the Queen Mother's unnatural conduct towards Al-Hādi.
3. Thus the daughter of one of these condemned Hāshimites is said to have confessed that she was with child by her own father, and when carried before the Caliph died of fright.
4. Goldziher, Muhammedanische Studien, i., pp. 147 ff.
5. See above, p. 463. The two mothers suckled each other's babes. The relation of foster-mother is much esteemed in the East.
6. The first notice of a Turkish chief placed in a military command. We shall soon find them coming to the front in all departments, and especially at the head of the Muslim armies.
7. This from Greek authorities, who state that on refusing to embrace Islām, Hārūn had him beheaded. Muslim writers do not mention him.
8. Ibn al-Athīr under the year 178. Ṭab. does no more than mention Al-Welīd's rebellion, iii, 631, 638.
9. One in whom faith is placed, "the Trusted": Al-Amīn signifying "the Faithful"; grand epithets, if they had only been true.
10. Weil has gone very fully into the question, and leaves little room to doubt the outline as a whole. The story is one eminently fitted to excite the Oriental imagination. Thus Ibn Khallikān, in his gossiping way, tells us that ʿAbbāsa, conceiving an uncontrollable passion for her husband, persuaded his mother (who used to send a slave-girl every Friday night as her son's companion) to make use of her for once instead. She was sent accordingly in disguise, and Jaʿfar, under the influence of wine (nabīdh), discovered the deception but too late, and then was overcome by terror at the possible results. It may be a tale, but even so, it points to the popular belief, and the notices both in prose and verse are entirely in accord. Some authorities pass the matter by in silence, or (as Ibn Khaldūn) attribute it to other causes—as, escape of an ʿAlid offender by Jaʿfar's connivance; his princely palace exciting Hārūn's jealousy; Yaḥya's entering the presence without authority; ʿAlid tendency of the family, etc.; but all are inadequate for the execution of Jaʿfar and downfall of the family.

    ʿAbbāsa and her child are also said to have been made away with, but this is doubted.

11. The Chinese writers call the Caliph Galun.
12. Weil is excessively severe on Hārūn,—a singular exception to his usual calm and impartial judgment. He makes him out the greatest tyrant of his race, though he really was not so bad as many others both before and after. It is the Barmekid tragedy that has given him so unenviable a pre-eminence in Eastern story.
13. Savants of every branch were entertained with princely liberality; but poets were the recipients of his special bounty. For example, Merwān ibn abi Ḥafṣa, having presented a sonnet in his praise, he forthwith gave him a purse of 5000 golden pieces, a robe of honour, ten Greek slave-girls, and one of his own steeds to ride on.