Lesson 8: Establishment of the Abbasid Dynasty and the Fourth Fitna Flashcards
Baghdad
is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world. Located along the Tigris River, the city was founded in the 8th century and became the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate. Within a short time of its inception, Baghdad evolved into a significant cultural, commercial, and intellectual center of the Muslim world. This, in addition to housing several key academic institutions, including the House of Wisdom, as well as hosting a multiethnic and multireligious environment, garnered the city a worldwide reputation as the “Centre of Learning”.
The abnāʾ al-dawla
meaning sons of the regime/dynasty, often simply the Abnā, is a term for the Khurasani Arabs who had participated in the Abbasid Revolution of 749–750 and their descendants, who settled in Baghdad and Iraq. They became the ruling elite of the Abbasid Caliphate and formed the mainstay of the caliphal army.
al-Mahdi (Abu Abdallah Muhammad ibn Abdallah al-Mansur)
was the third Abbasid Caliph who reigned from 775 to his death in 785. He succeeded his father, al-Mansur. Al-Mahdi’s father, Al-Mansur, died on the hajj to Mecca in 775. The throne then passed to Al-Mansur’s chosen successor, his son Al-Mahdi. Al-Mahdi, whose nickname means “Rightly-guided” or “Redeemer”, was proclaimed caliph when his father was on his deathbed. His peaceful reign continued the policies of his predecessors.
Rapprochement with the Alids in the Caliphate occurred under al-Mahdi’s reign.
Al-Mahdi reigned for ten years. He imprisoned his most trusted vizier Ya’qub ibn Dawud. In the year 167 AH/ 783 AD, al-Mahdi instituted an official inquisition which led to the execution of alleged Zindiq (heretics).
In 777 AD (160 AH) he put down the insurrection of Yusuf ibn Ibrahim in Khurasan. In the same year al-Mahdi deposed Isa ibn Musa as his successor and appointed his own son Musa al-Hadi in his place and took allegiance (bayah) for him from the nobles. In 778 AD (161 AH), he subdued the rebellion of Abdullah ibn Marwan ibn Muhammad, who was leading the Umayyad remnant in Syria. Al-Mahdi was poisoned by one of his concubines in 785 AD (169 AH).
The powerful Barmakid family, which had advised the Caliphs since the days of Abu al-‘Abbās as viziers, gained even greater powers under al-Mahdi’s rule, and worked closely with the caliph to ensure the prosperity of the Abbasid state.
Harun al-Rashid
ruled from 786 to 809, during the peak of the Islamic Golden Age. He established the legendary library Bayt al-Hikma (“House of Wisdom”) in Baghdad in present-day Iraq, and during his rule Baghdad began to flourish as a center of knowledge, culture and trade. During his rule, the family of Barmakids, which played a deciding role in establishing the Abbasid Caliphate, declined gradually. In 796, he moved his court and government to Raqqa in present-day Syria.
A Frankish mission came to offer Harun friendship in 799. Harun sent various presents with the emissaries on their return to Charlemagne's court. Portions of the fictional One Thousand and One Nights are set in Harun's court and some of its stories involve Harun himself. Harun's life and court have been the subject of many other tales, both factual and fictitious. His vizier (chief minister) Yahya the Barmakid, Yahya's sons (especially Ja'far ibn Yahya), and other Barmakids generally controlled the administration. The position of Persians in the Abbasid caliphal court reached its peak during al-Rashid's reign.
al-Amin (Abu Musa Muhammad ibn Harun al-Rashid)
was the sixth Abbasid Caliph. He succeeded his father, Harun al-Rashid, in 809 and ruled until he was deposed and killed in 813, during the civil war with his half-brother, al-Ma’mun.
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.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 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 decision 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 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.
al-Ma’amun
was an Islamic Golden Age ruler and the seventh Abbasid caliph, who reigned from 813 until his death in 833. He succeeded his half-brother al-Amin after a civil war, during which the cohesion of the Abbasid Caliphate was weakened by rebellions and the rise of local strongmen; much of his reign was consumed in pacification campaigns. Well educated and with a considerable interest in scholarship, al-Ma’mun promoted the Translation Movement, the flowering of learning and the sciences in Baghdad. He is also known for supporting the doctrine of Mu’tazilism and the rise of the inquisition (mihna). Al-Maʾmūn was reportedly the older of the two brothers, but his mother was a Persian woman while al-Amin’s mother was a member of the reigning Abbasid family. After al-Rashid’s death in 809, the relationship between the two brothers deteriorated. In response to al-Ma’mun’s moves toward independence, al-Amin declared his own son Musa to be his heir. This violation of al-Rashid’s testament led to a succession struggle. al-Amin assembled a massive army at Baghdad with ‘Isa ibn Mahan at its head in 811 and invaded Khorasan, but al-Maʾmūn’s general Tahir ibn al-Husayn (d. 822) destroyed the army and invaded Iraq, laying siege to Baghdad in 812. In 813 Baghdad fell, al-Amin was beheaded, and al-Maʾmūn became the undisputed Caliph.
Ali ibn Musa al-Rida
was a descendant of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad, and the eighth Shia Imam, after his father Musa al-Kadhim. He lived in a period when Abbasid caliphs were facing numerous difficulties, the most important of which was Shia revolts. The Caliph Al-Ma’mun sought out a remedy for this problem by appointing Al-Ridha as his successor, through whom he could be involved in worldly affairs. This was supposed to give The abbasids legitimacy, and shore up political support in Iraq. Was poisoned.
Ṭāhir ibn Ḥusayn
was a Persian (Iranian) general and governor during the Abbasid caliphate. He served under al-Ma’mun during the Fourth Fitna and led the armies that would defeat al-Amin, making al-Ma’mun the caliph. He was then rewarded as governor of Khorasan, which marked the beginning of the Tahirid dynasty. Commanded al-Ma’amun’s forces at the battle of Reyy, where he defeated al-Amin’s much larger force sent to depose al-Ma’amun. Led the siege of Baghdad.
Muʿtazila
is a rationalist school of Islamic theology that flourished in the cities of Basra and Baghdad, both now in Iraq, during the 8th to the 10th centuries.
The adherents of the Muʿtazili school, known as Muʿtazilites, are best known for rejecting the doctrine of the Qur’an as uncreated and co-eternal with God, asserting that if the Quran is the word of God, he logically “must have preceded his own speech”
The philosophical speculation of the Muʿtazilites centre on the concepts of divine justice (Al-‘adl) and divine unity (Tawhid). The school worked to resolve the theological “problem of evil”: how to reconcile the justice of an all-powerful God with the reality of evil in the world, in accordance to the guidance of the Quran. Mu’tazilites reasoned that, since God is believed to be just and wise, and since he cannot command what is contrary to reason or act with disregard for the welfare of His creatures, evil must be regarded as something that stems from errors in human acts, arising from man’s divinely bestowed free will.
Muʿtazilites believe that good and evil are not always determined by revealed scripture or interpretation of scripture, but they are rational categories that could be “established through unaided reason”; because knowledge is derived from reason; reason, alongside scripture, was the “final arbiter” in distinguishing right from wrong. This part alone made them the enemy of those who follow the Hadith and Tafsirs.
The movement reached its political height during the Abbasid Caliphate during the mihna, the period of religious persecution instituted by the ‘Abbasid Caliph al-Ma’mun in 833 Common Era in which religious scholars (such as Sunnis and Shias) were punished, imprisoned, or even killed unless they conformed to Muʿtazila doctrine. The policy lasted for fifteen years (833–848 CE) as it continued through the reigns of al-Ma’mun’s immediate successors, al-Mu’tasim and al-Wathiq, and two years of al-Mutawakkil who reversed it in 848 (or possibly 851).
Mihna
refers to the period of religious persecution instituted by the ‘Abbasid Caliph al-Ma’mun in 833 Common Era in which religious scholars were punished, imprisoned, or even killed unless they conformed to Muʿtazila doctrine. The policy lasted for fifteen years (833–848 CE) as it continued through the reigns of al-Ma’mun’s immediate successors, al-Mu’tasim and al-Wathiq, and two years of al-Mutawakkil who reversed it in 848 (or possibly 851).
Barmakids
were an influential Persian family from Balkh where they were originally hereditary Buddhist leaders, and subsequently came to great political power under the Abbasid caliphs of Baghdad. Khalid, the son of Barmak became the prime minister (wazir) of Al Saffah, the first Caliph of the Abbasid dynasty. The Barmakid family was an early supporter of the Abbasid revolt against the Umayyads and of As-Saffah. This gave Khalid bin Barmak considerable influence, and his son Yaḥyá ibn Khālid (d. 806) was the vizier of the caliph al-Mahdi (ruled 775–785) and tutor of Hārūn al-Rashid (ruled 786–809). Yahya’s sons al-Fadl and Ja’far (767–803), both occupied high offices under Harun.
Vizier
is a high-ranking political advisor or minister. The Abbasid caliphs gave the title wazir to a minister formerly called katib (secretary), who was at first merely a helper but afterwards became the representative and successor of the dapir (official scribe or secretary) of the Sassanian kings. The vizier stood between sovereign and subjects, representing the former in all matters touching the latter.
Katib
scribe, or secretary in the Arabic-speaking world, Persian World, and other Islamic areas as far as India. Wielded much influence during Abbasid rule.
Hajib
was a court official, equivalent to a chamberlain, in the early Muslim world, which evolved to fulfil various functions, often serving as chief ministers or enjoying dictatorial powers. The post appeared under the Umayyad Caliphate, but gained in influence and prestige in the more settled court of the Abbasids, under whom it ranked as one of the senior offices of the state, alongside the vizier.
During the period of the Abbasid Caliphate, the office of the qadi al-qudat (Chief Justice of the Highest Court) was established. Among the most famous of the early qadi al-qudat was Qadi Abu Yusuf who was a disciple of the famous early jurist Abu Hanifa.
Qadi
is the magistrate or judge of a Shariʿa court, who also exercises extrajudicial functions, such as mediation, guardianship over orphans and minors, and supervision and auditing of public works. The Abbasids created the office of chief qadi, whose holder acted primarily as an adviser to the caliph in the appointment and dismissal of qadis. Later Islamic states generally retained this office, while granting to its holder the authority to issue appointments and dismissals in his own name.
