Abdullah
bin Tahir's Governorship
The news reached in 206 A.H. that
Yahya bin Mu'az, the governor of Jazirah, and Sirri bin Mohammad Hakam, the
governor of Egypt, died and they made their sons Ahmad and Obaidallah the
governors of Jazirah and Egypt respectively. Nasr bin Sheeth began to advance
towards Jazirah and Obaidallah raised the flag of rebellion in Egypt. Mamoon
appointed Ishaq bin Ibrahim bin Husain bin Mus'ab officer to the Police
Department in place of Obaidallah. Then he appointed Abdullah bin Tahir,
governor of Jazirah and sent him off with the instructions first to fight Nasr
bin Sheeth and after completing this, send the forces to Egypt.
Abdullah bin Tahir at once left with
the military forces, halted in between Riqqah and Egypt and spread out groups
of his soldiers to besiege Nasr bin Sheeth. When Tahir bin Husain received the
news in Khorasan that the Caliph had made Abdullah governor of Jazirah in
charge of all the western provinces, he wrote a letter to Abdullah, which
contained his views on the principles of administration, grand ethics and
politics. Historically, it is considered to be one of the best documents on
ethics and the principles of administration.
Mamoon learned about it, had it
copied and sent a copy to each of his governors. Imam Ibn Khaldoon in his book
A Preface to History and Ibn Atheer in his book A Complete History have
recorded it. It is considered essential to include it in the study of ethics.
The same year Fadal bin Rabi who went into hiding for fear of Mamoon and then
eventually went to Ibrahim bin Mehdi and joined his companionship and hid himself
when Ibrahim went underground, begged for forgiveness and Mamoon forgave him.
A series of battles continued to be
fought between Abdullah bin Tahir and Nasr bin Sheeth and due to this
disturbance no expedition could be sent to Egypt. Abdur Rahman bin Ahmad became
an insurgent in Yemen but he was defeated in the same year. Mamoon sent Dinar
bin Abdullah to Yemen, Abdur Rahman bin Ahmad requested Dinar to grant him
security and pardon and left Yemen for Baghdad and Yemen came under the control
of Dinar bin Abdullah.
The
Death of Tahir bin Husain the Governor of Khorasan
Having arrived in Khorasan, he
easily succeeded in establishing his government and authority and he put an end
to all the disturbances there. It is a fact that he was the best choice for the
governorship of Khorasan. As mentioned above, Tahir was not satisfied with
Mamoon. He could have possibly avoided Mamoon and captured a vast territory in
order to protect him from coming into his grip. He had seen the end of Fadal
bin Sahal and the Barmuks and had read about Abu Muslim Khorasani. He also knew
Mamoon's view about him, which he had gathered from Husain Nadeem. In brief in
Jumad-al-Thani 207 A.H., Tahir made a sermon on Friday at the Central Mosque in
which he neither named Caliph Mamoon Rasheed nor did he offer prayers for him.
He simply prayed for the correction of the community and stepped down from the
pulpit.
Kulthum bin Thabit, an agent of the
caliph was present there and he at once sent the information to Mamoon in
Baghdad. When Mamoon read the report, he sent for the Prime Minister, informed
him of the events and instructed him to leave with the army for Khorasan
without any delay. He said to him, "As you stand surety, you should go to
Khorasan and save it from his mischief and bring back Tahir as a captive."
Ahmad bin Abi Khalid prepared for departure. The next day another report
arrived that Tahir had fallen ill on Friday and suddenly died on Saturday. The
slave who was given to Tahir on the occasion of his appointment to the rank of governor
probably poisoned him when he found out Tahir's negative intention about
Mamoon.
Upon hearing the news of Tahir's
death, Mamoon Rasheed said, "All praise is due to Allah who caused his
death before mine." Then he made his son Talha bin Tahir governor of
Khorasan and sent Ahmad bin Abi Khalid to Khorasan to establish Talha bin Tahir
firmly there so that there might not be any possibility of rebellion and
disobedience there. It was a trademark of Mamoon that he would penalize a rebel
or revolutionary and nothing ever stopped him from destroying him but he never
harmed the guilty party's family and relatives. He usually would endear himself
to them even more by serving them. Ahmad bin Abi Khalid went to Khorasan and
Mawaraunnahr and punished the insurgents. When he was informed that Tahir's
brother Husain bin Husain bin Mus'ab rebelled in Kerman he went there, arrested
him and presented him to Mamoon. Mamoon excused him. When Ahmad bin Abi Khalid
was returning from Khorasan to the capital Baghdad. Talha bin Tahir presented
to him 3,000,000 dirhams in cash and goods worth 100,000 dirhams as gift. He
gave Ahmed's clerk 500,000 dirhams.
The same year Mamoon removed Isa bin
Yazid Jaludi and assigned Dawood bin Manjoor commander of the expedition to
Zutt and put the territories of Basra, Dajlah, Yamama and Bahrain under his
control. He made Mohammad bin Hafiz the ruler of Tabristan. The same year the
tribe of Banu Shaiban revolted against Mamoon. Mamoon sent Syed bin Anas to
punish and discipline them. The clash with Banu Shaiban took place at Waskarah
and they were defeated.
The same year Mamoon Rasheed sent
Mohammad bin Jafar Amri as ambassador to Nasr bin Sheeth who had been
continuously suffering defeat at the hands of Abdullah bin Tahir, who persuaded
him to obey. Nasr bin Sheeth said, "I am ready to reconcile with Mamoon
Rasheed provided I should not be forced to go to his court." He came to
Mamoon and conveyed Nasr's condition. Mamoon swore that he would not rest until
he forced Nasr to present himself in his court. Nasr said to his companions who
were all Arabs, "How can Mamoon Rasheed, who failed to subdue the toads of
the Zutt community, get the better of us?" He then geared up to give him a
tougher fight than before.
The
Insurrection in Africa
North Africa, this province included
central Tunis and Qairwan situated between Egypt and Morocco, was given to
Ibrahim bin Aghlab in 184 A.H. on lease for 40,000 dinars as tax annually
during Haroon Rasheed's regime. He ruled over Africa very efficiently. In Mamoon
Rasheed's regime the ruler of North Africa was Ibrahim's son Zeyadatullah bin
Ibrahim bin Aghlab. In 208 A.H., there was a revolt in Tunis, which was
engineered by Mansoor bin Naseer. Mansoor bin Naseer captured most parts of
Tunis and besieged Zeyadatullah in the capital Qairwan. Zeyadatullah defeated
and forced Mansoor bin Naseer to flee but Mansoor rallied his forces again and
came to fight and the tug of war continued from 208 A.H. to 211 A.H. At last,
Mansoor bin Naseer was killed by one of his own men and Zeyadatullah ruled over
Africa easily.
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