The early Abbasid period was a time of unimaginable wealth. The empire was at its fullest extent, although tax and tribute from al-Andalus had dried up with going independent under Abd al-Rahman the Umayyad. Still, gold and jewels rolled in from the far East, which would later go independent—and from Egypt, which would also later go its own way. So it was a time of maximum income.
During the 8th century, the Abbasid Caliphs followed old Arab family traditions. Each of the first four Caliphs was married to an Arabian lady of rank as a first wife, and in several cases she was a cousin (that’s one way to ensure equal rank). Instead of living in a “harem” section of a general palace, these wives — and some of their daughters — sometimes had their own mansion. One of these independent palaces later became the main residence for the later Abbasid Caliphs, so we can be sure they were roomy and luxurious.
During the 9th century, the Caliphs stopped even getting married. They had sons with any number of concubines in a harem that’s a step closer to the Ottoman model most of us have in mind, then chose the strongest or smartest sons and groomed them as heirs. But during the 8th century, there was a presumption that the Arabian queen’s sons were the heirs. These sons, and the sons of concubines, were sent out to provinces to govern cities or regions. This gave them worldly experience and a network of supporters. In the 9th and 10th century’s system, sons were kept home lest they gain worldly experience and their own network and overthrow the father. The concubine who was mother to the current Caliph ruled the household as Queen Mother, even if she had never been “Queen” as a wife. But in the 8th century, we see wives and even daughters who had influence.
Arwa, the queen of Caliph al-Mansur, had married him before he was rich and powerful. She was from an old aristocracy in South Arabia that went back to the kings of Himyar, one of the Yemeni kingdoms. Before he was Caliph, all he had to offer was that he was of the Abbasid family, related to the Prophet. In the marriage negotiation, she stipulated that in her lifetime he could take no other women. When Caliph Mansur tried to annul this agreement, she won in court.
Arwa’s son Mahdi was married to his cousin Raita, keeping power among the Abbasids, and later he married a cousin and a descendant of Caliph Uthman. But he obtained a slave girl who was herself from South Arabia. Her name was Khayzuran, and she quickly became his real consort, and eventually his legal wife as well (one of four). Khayzuran’s sons became the heirs. She had her own household and even her own royal court — in the senses of both deciding legal cases and receiving ambassadors. She was educated in astronomy and Islamic law so that she could mix with men in the court on an equal footing. There was no precedent for this role in any Arab tradition. It seems to have been carried off entirely by her force of personality.
As Queen Mother, Khayzuran expected to maintain her power and her public role. Her older son al-Hadi opposed this, and it may have contributed to his early death. Harun al-Rashid welcomed his mother’s public role (and lived longer). Khayzuran had coins minted in her own name and personally commissioned public works in both Iraq and Arabia. When Harun al-Rashid went to other cities or on campaigns, Khayzuran ruled as regent. She may have been the model for the fictional Scheherazade, the story-telling queen of the Arabian Nights.
Harun al-Rashid’s wife Zubaydah was the daughter of Khayzuran’s sister and Mahdi’s brother. Harun started out as a very introverted person who might have accepted being cut out of the succession, as his brother tried to do, so that he could stay home and talk to Zubaydah. She was his first and official wife, but her son Muhammad al-Amin was not the oldest son. A concubine from Sogdia had given birth to Abdallah al-Ma’mun on the same day Harun became Caliph. Al-Amin was named first heir because of Zubaydah’s much higher rank.
As queen and queen mother, Zubaydah also had her own household. She didn’t mix in politics like her aunt/mother-in-law Khayzuran, but she took on independent projects and ventures. Like Khayzuran, she lived in her own palace. She was unusually pious; her female attendants had to be from among the women who had memorized the whole Quran. Zubaydah went on Hajj one year and learned that Mecca’s Well of Zamzam had slowed to a trickle. She paid to have the well redug, and not only that. She paid for an aqueduct to Mecca and improved the road between Mecca and Kufa to encourage more people to go on the Hajj. Rocks were removed, and wells and cisterns put in place.
Harun married five other wives. They were all women of rank, including cousins. His son al-Ma’mun married one rich heiress, Buran, long after he had fathered a number of children with concubines. The wedding was the greatest show of wealth in the dynasty, but Buran herself had no political power and may not have had children. Her lasting mark on the dynasty was to cede her personal palace to a later Caliph, who made it the primary residence. Buran was the last queen to have her own house, and pretty much the last legally married queen. From her time forward, the Caliphs collected women in a harem. Their position was not secure enough to permit a wife or mother with her own power base.
- When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World, by Hugh Kennedy.