Caliph Harun al-Rashid died in 809. He left his kingdom to his two sons, al-Amin and al-Mamoun. Al-Amin’s mother was his cousin Zubayda, so overall his rank was higher, but al-Mamun was older and usually portrayed as more experienced. Al-Amin inherited power in Baghdad, but al-Mamoun was supposed to rule the east. Al-Mamoun’s mother was a Khurasani, so he spoke some form of Farsi as well as Arabic. The two brothers had been made to sign a treaty stating that they would support each other’s roles and, moreover, that al-Mamoun would be al-Amin’s heir.
But within two years, al-Amin was taking steps to make his own small son his heir, while al-Mamoun was gathering eastern military forces to take over the western provinces, too. Civil war broke out. For a year, from August 812 to September 813, al-Mamoun’s general Tahir ibn Husayn besieged the round city of Baghdad. Militias supporting one or the other of the brothers fought each other in city neighborhoods, and as always happens in war, there was anarchy and some militia leaders took advantage of whatever they could take. Parts of the still-new city were destroyed in the fighting.
The war ended with al-Amin’s surrender on September 25, 813. He agreed to surrender himself to one of Mamoun’s captains that he knew and trusted, while his ruling regalia would be surrendered to Tahir ibn Husayn. The regalia turn out to be personal items passed down from the Prophet’s time: his staff, mantle and signet ring.
But Tahir ibn Husayn intercepted Amin’s surrender to his friend. The friend came to remove al-Amin from the city by boat, and Tahir ordered his men to capsize the boat when the deposed Caliph was on board. Al-Amin was arrested, then murdered, by Persian soldiers.
Al-Mamoun spent the next six years trying to pacify the storm he had unleashed. Baghdad and Damascus were roughly central to the vast geography of the Muslim Empire, but he had difficulty at first in achieving solid power in these old capitals. By the time he was in control of the central lands of Egypt, Syria, Arabia and Iraq, as well as Iran and Afghanistan, parts of North Africa had set up their own governments. Tunisia remained independent of Abbasid rule after this.
Al-Mamoun’s power came entirely from the east. During the early centuries of Muslim rule, Turks were gradually moving westward out of Central Asia. Eventually, of course, after a thousand years the Turks would settle in the eastern part of Europe and completely dominate the Muslim world. But at this time, they mostly came west as mercenaries to supplement Khurasani forces.
Al-Mamoun’s easterners displaced the formerly powerful families who had supported his father and grandfather. Their take-over of the western provinces was often blunt and brutal. In Baghdad, the old ruling families (apart from al-Mamoun’s closest relatives) lost their estates and powerful positions to Khurasanis and Turks. In Egypt, the new governor removed Arabs from the army and replaced them with Turks.
You can imagine what this did to unity in the Muslim lands. It was the first time that outsiders speaking a different language had been imposed on Arabs. In Egypt, it was normal for Arabic-speakers to rule over Coptic-speakers, and use of Arabic language was spreading. But now among the Muslim rulers, speakers of Turkish and Farsi were giving order to Arabs. In Baghdad, the Caliph’s close advisers were all from the far east and viewed the Aramaic-speaking Iraqis as foreigners.
- Caliphate: the History of an Idea. Hugh Kennedy.