Unrest
in Syria
In 176 A.H., the civil wars between
Banu Mudar and the Yemeniayah tribes took a dangerous turn. When the governor
of Damascus Abdus Samad bin Ali failed to stamp out the trouble, Haroon Rasheed
deposed him and replaced him with Ibrahim bin Saleh. Ibrahim supported and
helped the Yemeniayah tribes with the result that the disturbance continued for
a long time. Then the Mudar tribe captured Damascus and dethroned and suspended
the governor. Finally, Haroon Rasheed sent Jafar bin Yahya Barmuk to Syria. He
brought the riots under control and came back to the capital Baghdad.
Rise
of Attâf bin Sufyan
In 177 A.H. Attâf bin Sufyan staged
an uprising and captured Mousil and the surrounding states. He besieged and
imprisoned the governor of Mousil in the governor's headquarters and started
collecting taxes using 4,000 warriors who were with him to convince anyone who
doubted his right to collect taxes. Hearing of this Haroon Rasheed took an army
from Baghdad and went towards him. Attâf fled to Armenia. Haroon Rasheed pulled
down the city walls of Mousil. But he had to return to Baghdad upon receiving
the news of uprisings in both Egypt and Khorasan. Attâf left Armenia and went
to Raqah, settled there and began to live a life of seclusion. The same year
Abdur Razzaq bin Humaid Dhâlbi invaded the Romans and returned after punishing
them.
Uprising
in Egypt
At the end of 177 A.H., the news
came that in Egypt some tribes were ready to rebel. The Egyptian governor Ishaq
bin Sulaiman tried to stamp it out but in 178 A.H. the rebels fought and
defeated him. In those days, Harsimah bin Ayun was the administrator of
Palestine. Haroon Rasheed wrote to him to go to Egypt with his army and curb the
unrest. He went there and defeated and forced them into obedience. Haroon
Rasheed then entrusted the governorship of Egypt to him. However, after one
month he was deposed and replaced by Abdul Malik bin Saleh.
The
Mischief of the Khwarij
The periods during which there were
rebellions in Egypt, Syria, and Mousil Qais bin Dhalbah's liberated slave,
Haseen Khwarji, had rebelled in Khorasan and created unrest there. The governor
of Khorasan Khalid bin Ata Kindi had made Dawood bin Yazid the administrator of
Sistan. He sent Uthman bin Ammarah to confront Haseen Khwarji. Haseen defeated
and made him flee. Then he looted and plundered Badghais, Busanj and Herat.
Then Khalid Kindi deployed a 12,000 man army to capture him. Haseen dealt a
crushing defeat to that army with his 600 men and continued to create disorder
and unrest. Repeated confrontations took place but every time the Khorasani
army suffered defeat. At last, in the beginning of 178 A.H., Haseen Khwarji was
killed and peace was restored in Khorasan. The same year saw Zafar bin Asim
invading the Roman Empire.
In Ramadan 179 A.H., caliph Haroon
Rasheed performed Umrah, (the small pilgrimage,) combined with Hajj, (the great
pilgrimage,) with the same Ihram (the state in which a pilgrimage performs the
rituals of Hajj). He went on foot from Makkah to Arafat. The same year Malik
bin Anas died on 7 Rabia Thani at the age of 84 followed by Imam Abu Hanifah's
son Hammâd in Dhul Qada 179 A.H.
In 180 A.H., armies were sent to
Mawaraunnahar to declare Jihad on the Turks and the Mongols. Ali bin Isa bin
Mahân was made the governor of Khorasan. This appointment was disapproved by
Haroon Rasheed's Prime Minister Yahya bin Khalid Barmuk who drew his attention
to Ali bin Isa's hard temperament. But Haroon Rasheed did not agree with him
and sent Ali bin Isa to Khorasan. Naturally, Yahya bin Khalid did not like
anybody to unleash a reign of terror on the inhabitants of Khorasan, which was
his native land. On the other hand, repeated rebellions in Khorasan demanded
Haroon to depute a strict man to govern and deal with Khorasan. The same year
180 A.H. there was a big earthquake, which caused the minarets of Alexandria to
fall down. The same year the ruler of Spain, Hisham bin Abdur Rahman died and
his son Hakam took the throne. The same year Abu Bishr Amr bin Uthman known as
Sibwaih who was the foremost scholar of syntax and an inhabitant of Baizia in
Persia died.
In 181 A.H., Caliph Haroon Rasheed
invaded the Roman Empire and conquered the fort of Safsâf. The same year Abdul
Malik bin Saleh captured territories up to Ankara. The same year the Muslims
and the Romans agreed to exchange their prisoners of war. This was the first
treaty the Abbasids made with the Romans. The scholars and officials of the two
governments and 30,000 soldiers along with the inhabitants of the border areas
assembled at Lamas, which was situated at a distance of twelve miles from
Tartus. The ruler of Tartus also came and under the aegis of Haroon Rasheed's
son Qasim popularly known as Motamin and a grand assembly was held. The Romans
came with 3,700 Muslim prisoners and in exchange, Motamin handed over the
Christian captives to them. The same year Harsamah bin Ayun was deposed as the
governor of North Africa. He came to Baghdad and was appointed officer of
Haroon Rasheed's cavalry and in his place Mohammad bin Muqatil was sent to
North Africa.
Mamoon
as Heir Apparent
It has been stated above that Haroon
Rasheed in 175 A.H. had made Ameen his son from Zubaidah Khatoon his
heir-apparent. At that time, both Ameen and Mamoon were five years old. No
Muslim had ever made his heir apparent a boy of such young age. Now Haroon
Rasheed declared his son Mamoon bin Marajal, then 12 years old, heir apparent
after Ameen. He took the oath from the people that Mamoon would follow Ameen as
heir to the caliphate. Mamoon's real name was Abdullah and Ameen's was
Mohammad. When Mohammad was made successor in 175 A.H. he was given the title
Ameen and when Abdullah was made the second successor he was given the title
Mamoon. Haroon made him governor of Khorasan and its adjoining territories up
to Hamdan. Then he sent for Isa bin Ali and giving him the certificate of
governorship of Khorasan on behalf of Mamoon, sent him back to Khorasan. The
same year on 27 Rajab 182 A.H. Imam Abu Yusuf whose name was Yaqub and had the
credit of being Abu Hanifa's disciple and judge of judges of Baghdad, breathed
his last.
The
Rebellion of Wahab bin Abdullah Nisai and Hamza Khawarji
When Ali bin Isa visited Baghdad on
the occasion of the celebration of Mamoon Rasheed's succession, Abu Khaseeb
Wahab bin Abdullah bin Nisai revolted and began to loot and kill people in
Khorasan. When Isa bin Ali returned and pursued him, Wahab was terrified and
asked for pardon and safety which he was granted, he settled down quietly.
Immediately, after this incident the news broke that Hamza bin Atrak Khwarji
revolted in Badghais and started conquering city after city. Herat was then
ruled over by Amrwiyah bin Yazid Azdi. Taking 6,000 men with him, he attacked Hamza.
Hamza defeated him and killed many of his cavalry leading ultimately to
Amrwiyah's death in the stampede. Then Ali bin Isa gave 10,000 soldiers to his
son, Hasan bin Ali, and sent him to face Hamza. But Hasan did not fight with
Hamza. Then Ali bin Isa deputed his next son, Isa bin Ali. Hamza defeated him
and forced him to flee. Ali bin Isa gave Isa bin Ali a fresh army and sent him
to face Hamza. The fighting took place at Nishapur and Hamza lost and fled to
Qahistan. His 10,000 men were killed in the battle and only 40 men were left
who fled to Qahqistan with him. Isa bin Ali deputed his warriors at Adaq, Jowin
and those towns and villages which helped Hamza and then caught and killed the
Khwarij until 30,000 men was put to death. Then he left Abdullah bin Abbas
Nasfi at Zaranrj to collect the spoils of war and marched on to Kabul and
Zablistan. Abu Khaseeb Wahab bin Abdullah who had received pardon and safety
and had settled down quietly in the town of Nisa, saw the field empty and made
up his mind to violate the treaty. He was able to gather a group of rebels to
rally round him and occupied Abyuro, Nisa, Tus and Nishapur. On the other hand,
Hamza started making night attacks on the villages and towns and looting
travelers. In short, Hamza and Wahab did not allow Ali bin Isa and his soldiers
to take any rest for four years. In the mean while Wahab at times besieged
Merv. At last with Wahab's death in 186 A.H. there was peace in Khorasan. Then
Ali bin Isa began to deal harshly and violently with the inhabitants there.
The same year in 182 A.H. Abdur
Rahman bin Abdul Malik bin Saleh along with the summer forces left for the
Roman Empire to make Jihad. The Romans after the death of their king
Constantine had his mother Rebi succeed to the throne with the title Atshah.
Haroon Rasheed had created fear inside the court of Constantinople the Roman
queen eventually made endeavors to make peace with him and drew the attention
of the Muslim commanders to peace through correspondence. It was at this time
that the French King Charlemagne conquered Italy and Western Rome and had an
eye on Eastern Rome, the kingdom of Constantinople. The Eastern Roman queen
very intelligently made a compromise with Haroon Rasheed and in exchange for
paying the Jizyah, she protected herself from the danger of Charlemagne.
The
Riot in the Province of Armenia
In 183 A.H., King Khakan's daughter
Khazar was sent to Fadal bin Yahya. She died at Baroa. When her men returned
they told her father that the Muslims had killed her treacherously. Khakan
collected a huge army and rebelled at Babol starting the invasion of the
Islamic territories. The Armenian governor Sayeed bin Muslim was not able to
defeat him. Khakan killed 100,000 Muslims, captured thousands of them with
their women and children and tortured them to such a degree that the
description of these tortures is horrifying. This is regarded as one of the
greatest tragedies of the Islamic world. Haroon Rasheed sent Yazid bin Mizyad
to Armenia as governor prior to which, he was the administrator of Azerbaijan.
Armenia was also annexed to his jurisdiction. He appointed Khuzaima bin Khazim
at Nasibeen to help the Armenians. As soon as Yazid bin Mizyad's and Khuzaima
bin Khazim's armies entered Armenian territory the inhabitants of Khazar fled and
the Islamic forces recaptured it.
Haroon Rasheed obliged Imam Musa
Kazim bin Imam Jafar Sadiq to remain in Baghdad as a precautionary measure and
did not allow him to leave it for fear that the Aliwiites would make him their
leader and rebel. On Friday Rajab 25 183 A.H., Imam Musa Kazim died. He was
buried in Baghdad. He is regarded as the seventh Imam of the Shiites. His and
Imam Mohammad Taqi's graves are located in Baghdad under a dome and are known
as Kazimiah.
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