At first, Caliph al-Mamoun remained in Merv, at the border of Iran and Afghanistan, which had been his regional seat of power. Among the troubles going on in the west, the Shi’ite descendants of Ali rebelled in various places, starting in Kufa and spreading into Arabia. After all, if the Abbasid Revolution had aimed to put a member of the Prophet’s family in power, now that the rightful Caliph al-Amin had been murdered, why should the Abbasid branch keep its hold on power at all?
Al-Mamun’s Khurasani forces won literal battles against the Shi’ites, but it was not so easy to win “hearts and minds” as we say today. So Mamoun decided to bring the Shi’ite Imam from Medina to Merv to join his government.
Imam Reza was about 50 years old and left behind a five year old son in Medina. He went unwillingly, predicting that he would not come back. In Merv, under threat of death, Reza was forced to accept the role of Mamoun’s heir and the current title of Crown Prince. Reza agreed only to be an advisor, but in public he was made the heir and married to Mamoun’s daughter. Mamun’s other daughter was betrothed to five-year-old Javad back in Medina. Mamoun even ordered that the black Abbasid flag be swapped for a green Shi’ite flag.
To the rest of the Abbasids back in Baghdad, it was too much. They began their own revolt, supporting a younger brother of Harun al-Rashid. Al-Mamoun had to move to Baghdad to rule personally. During 818, he made the long journey across Iran and Iraq to arrive in Baghdad. Along the way, Mamoun’s vizier was assassinated, and in the next city—Tus, where Harun al-Rashid had died—Imam Reza died, too. There’s probably controversy about whether he was poisoned or not, but chances are he was. Reza was buried with great ceremony next to Harun al-Rashid, certainly not what his choice would have been.
The second great controversy promoted by Caliph al-Mamoun began as a scholarly debate about the Quran. Some held that the Quran had been in existence forever, like Allah himself. Not a word could be changed because the earthly copy was based on the heavenly original. But, others pointed out, this meant that the Quran must have a separate existence from Allah. Were there two eternal entities, Allah and the Quran? Didn’t that seem like believing in a second God? So, they reasoned, the Quran had been created by Allah at the time it was revealed to Muhammad. This doctrine was adopted by the Mu’tazilites, a faction that had already been in existence for many generations. They were influenced by Greek philosophers in the Academy at Alexandria.
Caliph al-Mamoun held with the belief that the Quran had been created, since it seemed like a purer montheism. As the Successor (Caliph) to the Prophet, he claimed the right to decide doctrine. Belief that the Quran was created became official state dogma. The Mu’tazilites received promotions.
There’s an interesting parallel in the Christian church of the same time. Constantinople was in the midst of their second wave of Iconclasm, the movement that declared religious images unholy. Iconoclasts literally broke images. Although the Bible has always had a prohibition against worshipping graven images, it seems likely that Iconoclasm of the 8th and 9th centuries was influenced by Islam. Many Christians now lived under Muslim rule, from Andalusia and North Africa through Egypt and Syria, and including now-forgotten monasteries and cathedrals all over Iraq and Iran. The Muslim insistence on not portraying Allah or his creation probably shaped Christian thought, the way any two cultures in close contact influence each other. I wonder if, in response, the image-smashing fanaticism of Christians in al-Mamoun’s time stimulated more consideration of extreme ideas about purifying Muslim monotheism even more.
Naturally, the theology was politicized. With Mu’tazilites in control, all officials who ruled under the Caliph’s authority were required to declare that the Quran had been created. This doctrinal point became a litmus test for all hiring and appointments, and even for ransoming prisoners of war. Therefore the opposing view became the anti-Mamoun doctrine. Mamoun’s extended family and their friends, pushed out of power and wealth, clung to their belief that the Quran had never not existed. They pointed out that if the Quran had been created, it could be amended. That would lead to liberalism and chaos. As long as they were out of power, they could only speak their views in relative secret.
- A Historical Research on the Lives of the Twelve Shi’a Imams. Mahdi Mahgrebi.
- Caliphate: the History of an Idea. Hugh Kennedy.
- When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World. Hugh Kennedy.