Motasim
Billah
Abu Ishaq Motasim bin Haroon Rasheed
was born of a slave girl named Barwah at Zabtarah in Roman territory in 180
A.H. when Caliph Haroon Rasheed himself was attacking the Roman territories.
Haroon loved him most and whenever he distributed anything among his children,
he used to give him the largest share. Motasim was not interested in acquiring
education. He spent his childhood days in games and sports. Haroon had assigned
a slave to live with him and educate him whenever he had a chance. When the
slave died Haroon said to Motasim, "Now your slave has died. Say what is
your intention now?" Motasim said, "Amir al-Muminin! Yes, the slave
is dead and I have gotten rid of the books." This indicates that Motasim
was not fond of studying. The fact is that he had only a little formal
education. Since he was brought up in the company of the royal family and
scholars and had seen the educational meetings during Haroon and Mamoon's
regimes, his knowledge was sufficient. Motasim was a heavily built wrestler and
a brave man. He was also a good general. Ibn Abi Dawood says: "Motasim
often outstretched his arm towards me and said, 'Bite it as hard as you can.' I
bit and he said, 'I did not feel anything.' I bit again but in vain. He often
broke the wrist of his opponents with the pressure of only two fingers."
Motasim sometimes composed poems and
honored the poets. He was also infected with the problem concerning the debate
about the creation of the Quran like his brother Mamoon Rasheed. Just as Mamoon
persecuted the scholars in connection with this problem, Motasim Billah Abbasi also
followed suit. He mercilessly tortured Imam Ahmad bin Hambal in connection with
this problem.
Motasim Billah was the governor of
Syria and Egypt during the Caliphate of Mamoon Rasheed. When Mamoon invaded the
Roman territory, Motasim exhibited such bravery that Mamoon was pleased and
made him his heir apparent and deprived his own son, Abbas. The oath for the
Caliphate of Motasim Billah was taken the day after the death of Mamoon at
Tartoos on 19 Rajab 218 A.H., corresponding to 10 August 833 A.D.
Fadal bin Marwan was his Christian
assistant. When the news of Mamoon's death reached Baghdad, Fadal bin Marwan
took the oath for Motasim's Caliphate from the inhabitants of Baghdad. Having
reached Baghdad, Motasim made Fadal bin Marwan his Prime Minister. When the
oath for Motasim was taken, most of the military personnel wanted Abbas bin
Mamoon saying that he deserved the Caliphate more than anybody else. Motasim
sent for Abbas and he took the oath at Motasim's hands. After the oath, the
unrest subsided by itself. The city of Towanah was built under the supervision
of Abbas. Immediately after becoming Caliph, Motasim ordered Towanah to be
demolished and rendered desolate and the citizens were sent back from where
they had come. After its desolation, he brought all the goods, which he could,
from there to Baghdad and burned the rest.
The
Revolt of Mohammad bin Qasim
Mohammad bin Qasim bin Ali bin Omar
bin Ali bin Husain bin Ali bin Abi Talib lived near the mosque in Madinah and
spent his time in prayer. A Khorasani visited him and coaxed him saying that he
deserved the Caliphate and that he should take the oath from the people
secretly. He therefore began to gather those people who came from Khorasan to
perform Hajj and passed through Madinah. They would take the oath for his
Caliphate.
Thus when a good number of followers
gathered in Khorasan, Mohammad bin Qasim went to Jurjan with the same Khorasani
who originally incited him and went into hiding there safely organizing
himself. Oaths of supporters continued to be taken there secretly. The rich and
the noble visited him. At last Mohammad bin Qasim revolted. The governor of
Khorasan Abdullah bin Tahir sent an army to quell the riots. There were several
fights on the outskirts of Talqan. Mohammad bin Qasim was defeated in every
battle. Finally, he escaped alone to save his life. He was arrested in Nasa and
brought to Abdullah bin Tahir who sent him to Motasim in Baghdad. He put him
under the custody of Masroor Kabeer. Mohammad bin Qasim arrived in Baghdad on
15 Rabi-al-Awwal 219 A.H. and escaped unnoticed from captivity on the first
night of Shawwal which corresponds to the Islamic holiday Eid al-Fitr following
Ramadan in 219 A.H.
The
Extermination of the Zutts
In Jumad-al-Thani 219 A.H., Caliph
Motasim deputed his general Ajeef bin Ambasa to finish the battle of Zutt. He
had been at war with those plunderers for seven months and at last he forced
them to ask for safety and pardon by themselves in Dhul Hijjah 219 A.H. and
they surrendered themselves to Ajeef. Ajeef took them numbering 17,000
including women and children to Baghdad. That included 12,000 men who were physically
fit to fight. Ajeef entered Baghdad on 10 Muharram 220 A.H. Motasim himself
boarded a boat and came to Shamamah. He inspected the Zutt captives and ordered
that they should be settled near Zarbah close to the Roman border. They were
therefore resettled there. The Romans later decided to attack the Islamic
territories and led a surprise night attack in this area and massacred them not
sparing a single soul. Thus, the group of Zutt met their end.
The
City of Samarra
Caliph Motasim was a soldier. He turned
his attention more towards the military. His predecessors, the Abbasi Caliphs,
attached more importance to the Khorasanis. They had rarely relied on the Arab
army. Although they faced dangers from the Khorasanis more than once, they
depended more on the Khorasanis and the Iranians in comparison with the Arabs
on the whole. The Arab elements continued to become weaker. Motasim Billah
concentrated on the organization and improvement of the military from the
beginning of his Caliphate. He purchased thousands of Turkish slaves and formed
an army. He also had Turks from Farghana and Ashrosna (Turkistan) recruited.
He liked their style of fighting and
their ability to bear extreme hardship. Until this time the army was composed
of Arabs and the Iranians and they were always at war with the Turks along the
borders of the Islamic territory. The Turks and their leaders were subjugated
and had to pay taxes, then they revolted and fought against their conquerors.
They were not considered reliable to be recruited into the army. Motasim
however, recruited them into his army in such large numbers and appointed them
to so many high posts that they were on par with the Iranian military in
respect to their number. The Arab tribes continued to decrease until only the
Egyptian and Yemeni tribes were left in the Caliph's army. The Caliph combined
all the Arab divisions and formed a separate army and called it Magharba.
The Turk army was made up of
soldiers from Samarkand, Farghana and Ashrosna, which was very powerful and was
named Faraghna. The Khorasani army developed an enmity with the Faraghna army.
Since Caliph Motasim had organized the new Turkish army with great care, all
facilities were made available to its soldiers. Their uniforms were more
beautiful, their horses were better and their salaries and allowances were more
than the others. The Khorasanis began to quarrel with them in Baghdad.
Observing the situation, Motasim set up a military cantonment at a distance of
90 miles from Baghdad on the Qatoon tributary of the Tigris River. He built a
palace for himself, houses for the soldiers, a large market and a central
mosque. Other necessary buildings were erected and he settled the Turks there
and then he moved to the newly built city.
He called it Surra man Raa, which
came to be known as Samarra in common usage. It was built in 220 A.H. and the
same year it was declared the capital in place of Baghdad. In a short time, it
was on par with Baghdad in respect of its beauty and population and the Turks
instead of the Arabs and Khorasanis came to dominate over the capital and the
Caliph. The same year Mohammad bin Ali Raza bin Musa bin Qasim bin Jafar Sadiq
died and was buried in Baghdad.
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