Abu
Jafar Haroon Rasheed bin Mahdi
Abu Jafar Haroon Rasheed bin Mahdi
bin Mansoor bin Mohammad bin Ali bin Abdullah bin Abbas was born of Khaizran at
Rayy in 148 A.H. A week before Yahya bin Khalid's son Fadal bin Yahya was born,
Haroon's mother Khaizran suckled Fadal and Fadal's mother suckled Haroon, by
Islamic law this made them foster brothers. Haroon Rasheed succeeded to the
caliphate on Sunday 14 Rabia al-Awwal 170 A.H. after his brother's death. The
same night his son Mamoon was born. It is strange that the same night a caliph
died, the second caliph ascended to the throne and the third one was born.
Haroon Rasheed's familiar name, kunya, was Abu Musa followed by Abu Jafar later
on. He was a tall and handsome man.
Soon after coming into power, Haroon
Rasheed made Yahya bin Khalid Barmuk his Prime Minister. He not only entrusted
him with the portfolio of this ministry but also gave him the caliph's ring and
this made him the most important man in matters of expeditions of the
government. Khaizran who had been living in isolation from all administrative
activities in Hadi's time, again resumed her involvement in matters of
government. Assumption of authority by Yahya and Khaizran does not signify that
Haroon Rasheed remained unconcerned with the business of the state. He rather
wanted to encourage and honor both Yahya and Khaizran. He believed them to be
his real supporters and relied upon their opinion. It was very wise and
intelligent on the part of a 23-year-old youth that he selected for his
minister a man who was very suited for that high post.
After taking the reigns of the
caliphate in his hands, Haroon Rasheed put all his efforts into strengthening
the system of government by means of dismissals, appointments, changes and
transfers. He replaced Omar bin Abdul Aziz bin Obaidullah by Ishaq bin Sulaiman
as the governor of Madinah. He sent Ruh bin Hatim to North Africa as its
governor. He separated the border areas from Jazirah and Qansareen and formed a
new Province named Awasim. In the first year of his caliphate, he went for Hajj
when the season came. He made a parade of his generosity in Holy Cities.
He deputed Ruh bin Saleh to collect
Zakat, the wealth tax, from Banu Taghlab in 171 A.H. There cropped up
dissension between Ruh and Banu Taghlab. Ruh collected an army to punish them
but Banu Taghlab launched a night attack on Ruh and killed him.
Idris bin Abdullah has already been
mentioned and his fleeing from the battle of Fakh to the western territories
during Hadi's regime. He started propagating his leadership among the Berbers,
revolted in the city of Dalilah in 172 A.H., took the oath from the people
openly and founded his own government the Allawiites were able to establish,
and they succeeded in Morocco - Andulus (Spain) in the Islamic world was a
separate country beyond the jurisdiction of the Abbasid caliphate. Now another
country Morocco also went out of their control. At the receipt of the news Haroon
Rasheed sent his slave Sulaiman bin Jareer popularly known as Shumakh to
Morocco alone to kill Idris bin Abdullah. Shumakh reached there, took the oath
for his caliphate, endeared himself to him by criticizing and abusing Haroon
Rasheed and waited for a chance. In 177 A.H., he poisoned him to death and
returned. However, the government Idris founded continued. After his death, a
son was born to his slave girl who was also named Idris by the Berbers and they
made him their leader. The details about the Idrisiy government will follow
later. After a short time, the Abbasid authority was destroyed in Tunis and a
separate government was established there. The Abbasid caliphate remained there
only as a figurehead. In this way, a large part of their territory went out of
the control of the caliphate of the Abbasids.
In 172 A.H. Mohammad bin Sulaiman,
the governor of Basra died. Haroon Rasheed confiscated all his property and
deposited it in the treasury. Prior to this, Mohammad bin Sulaiman's brother
Jafar bin Sulaiman usurped much of the Muslims' wealth and accumulated huge
amounts of money for himself. After Mohammad bin Sulaiman's death, Jafar staked
his claim to the legacy, Haroon Rasheed deputed Ishaq bin Sulaiman as the
governor of Sindh and Makran, and appointed Yusuf bin Imam Abu Yusuf to the
post of judge in the lifetime of Abu Yusuf.
Ameen
as the Crown Prince
Haroon Rasheed's son Mamoon's birth
has been recorded above, he was born at the time of Haroon Rasheed's ascension
to the throne in 170 A.H. But Mamoon was born of Marjal, a Zoroastrian slave
girl. The same year his second son Mohammad Ameen was born to his wife Zubaidah
Khatoon bint Jafar bint Mansoor bin Mohammad bin Ali bin Abdullah bin Abbas.
Ameen's tutor was Fadal bin Khalid bin Barmuk and Mamoon's tutor was Jafar bin
Yahya bin Khalid bin Barmuk. Fadal wanted Haroon Rasheed to make Ameen his heir
apparent and Jafar wanted Mamoon. Because Ameen was born of a woman from Banu
Hashim, Zubaidah Khatoon, Haroon Rasheed's beloved wife also exerted all her
effort in Ameen's favor. So, in 175 A.H. while Ameen was only five years old,
Haroon Rasheed took the oath for his succession.
The same year Haroon Rasheed deposed
Abbas bin Jafar bin Mohammad bin Ash-ath, the governor of Khorasan, and
appointed Khalid bin Ata Kindi in his place.
The
Revolt of Yahya bin Abdullah
Mention has been made above that
Idris and Yahya, sons of Abdullah bin Hasan and brothers of Mohammad Mahdi
(Nafs Zakiya) had fled from the battle of Fakh, Idris went to the western
territories and occupied Morocco as has been mentioned above. Yahya bin
Abdullah all sides rallied round him and took the oath for him, making him a
formidable power. Haroon Rasheed was frightened on hearing about it and sent
Fadal bin Yahya along with a 50,000 man army to put down that trouble. Along
with the army, he endowed him with the governorship of Jurjân, Tabristan and
Rayy. Fadal bin Yahya left Baghdad and reached Talqân and wrote a letter to
Yahya bin Abdullah and asked him to obey the caliph and assured him of rewards
and landed estates if he reconciled with him. Yahya replied wrote the treaty of
peace with Haroon Rasheed provided he scholars and judges and the chiefs of
Banu Hashim as witnesses. Fadal bin Yahya informed Haroon Rasheed of all these
details. Haroon Rasheed was very glad. He wrote the treaty with his own hand
duly signed by the persons requested and sent it to Fadal with gifts. Fadal
sent it to Yahya bin Abdullah and both Yahya and Fadal left for Baghdad. In the
peace treaty the ruler of Delam who extended his hospitality to Yahya bin
Abdullah by lodging him at his fort and helped him in all possible ways, was
promised 1,000,000 dirhams if he persuaded Yahya bin Abdullah to sign the
treaty of compromise. When Yahya and Fadal reached Baghdad, Haroon Rasheed
received Fadal warmly, fixed landed estates for him and gave him a reward.
Fadal was given a promotion and Yahya bin Abdullah was entrusted to Fadal bin
Yahya and he began to live in Baghdad under the care of Fadal.
In 176 A.H., Haroon Rasheed received
news that the Egyptian governor Musa bin Isa was influenced by the Alwiis
propaganda and that he was busy maneuvering a revolution against the caliphate.
So, he made Jafar bin Yahya the supervisor of Egypt. Jafar bin Yahya proposed
Omar bin Mehran whose familiar name was Abu Hafs be named governor of Egypt. He
accepted it on the condition that when he completed the arrangements for Egypt
and deposited all the arrears of taxes with the treasury, he would be at
liberty to return and that he would not have to seek permission to do so.
Haroon Rasheed agreed to the condition and wrote the certificate of
governorship and handed it over to him. He went to Egypt, took charge from Musa
bin Isa and after collecting all the taxes came back to Baghdad. Haroon Rasheed
then sent Ishaq bin Sulaiman to Egypt as its governor.
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