Harun al-Rashid was the fifth Abbasid Caliph. His birth date is debated, with various sources
giving dates from 763 to 766. His surname translates to "the Just", "the Upright", or
"the Rightly-Guided". Al-Rashid ruled from 786 to 809, during the peak of the Islamic
Golden Age. His time was marked by scientific, cultural, and religious prosperity. Islamic
art and music also flourished significantly during his reign. He established the legendary
library Bayt al-Hikma in Baghdad in modern-day Iraq, and during his rule Baghdad began to
flourish as a center of knowledge, culture and trade. During his rule, the family of
Barmakids, which played a deciding role in establishing the Abbasid Caliphate, declined
gradually. In 796, he moved his court and government to Ar-Raqqah in modern-day Syria.
Since Harun was intellectually, politically, and militarily resourceful, his life and his
court have been the subject of many tales, some factual, but most believed to be fictitious.
One factual tale is the story of the clock that was among various presents that Harun
sent to Charlemagne. The presents were carried by the returning Frankish mission that came
to offer Harun friendship in 799. Charlemagne and his retinue deemed the clock to be a conjuration
for the sounds it emanated and the tricks it displayed every time an hour ticked. Among
what is known to be fictional is The Book of One Thousand and One Nights, which contains
many stories that are fantasized by Harun's magnificent court and even Harun al-Rashid
himself. Amongst some Shia Muslims he is despised for
his role in the murder of the 7th Imam, Musa ibn Ja'far.
His life Hārūn was born in Rey, in modern-day Tehran
Province, Iran. He was the son of al-Mahdi, the third Abbasid caliph, and al-Khayzuran,
a former slave girl from Yemen, and a woman of strong personality who greatly influenced
affairs of state in the reigns of her husband and sons.
Hārūn was strongly influenced by the will of his mother in the governance of the empire
until her death in 789. His vizier Yahya the Barmakid, Yahya's sons, and other Barmakids
generally controlled the administration. The Barmakids were a Persian family that dated
back to the Barmak of Magi, who had become very powerful under al-Mahdi. Yahya had helped
Hārūn in obtaining the caliphate, and he and his sons were in high favor until 798,
when the caliph threw them in prison and confiscated their land. Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari dates
this in 803 and lists various accounts for the cause: Yahya's entering the Caliph's presence
without permission; Yahya's opposition to Muhammad ibn al Layth, who later gained Harun's
favour; and Ja'far's release of Yahya ibn Abdallah ibn Hasan, whom Harun had imprisoned.
The fall of the Barmakids is far more likely due to their behaving in a manner that Harun
found disrespectful and making decisions in matters of state without first consulting
him. Al-Fadl ibn al-Rabi succeeded Yahya the Barmakid as Harun's chief minister.
Hārūn became caliph when he was in his early twenties. Before that, in 780 and again in
782, he had already nominally led campaigns against the Caliphate's traditional enemy,
the Byzantine Empire. The latter expedition was a huge undertaking, and even reached the
Asian suburbs of Constantinople. On the day of accession, his son al-Ma'mun was born,
and al-Amin some little time later: the latter was the son of Zubaida, a granddaughter of
al-Mansur; so he took precedence over the former, whose mother was a Persian. He began
his reign by appointing very able ministers, who carried on the work of the government
so well that they greatly improved the condition of the people.
It was under Hārūn ar-Rashīd that Baghdad flourished into the most splendid city of
its period. Tribute was paid by many rulers to the caliph, and these funds were used on
architecture, the arts and a luxurious life at court.
In 796, Hārūn decided to move his court and the government to Ar Raqqah at the middle
Euphrates. Here he spent 12 years, most of his reign. Only once did he return to Baghdad
for a short visit. Several reasons might have influenced the decision to move to ar-Raqqa.
It was close to the Byzantine border. The communication lines via the Euphrates to Baghdad
and via the Balikh river to the north and via Palmyra to Damascus were excellent. The
agriculture was flourishing to support the new Imperial center. And from Raqqa any rebellion
in Syria and the middle Euphrates area could be controlled. Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani pictures
in his anthology of poems the splendid life in his court. In ar-Raqqah the Barmekids managed
the fate of the empire, and there both heirs, al-Amin and al-Ma'mun grew up.
Because of the Thousand-and-One Nights tales, Harun al-Rashid turned into a legendary figure
obscuring his true historic personality. In fact, his reign initiated the political disintegration
of the Abbasid caliphate. Syria was inhabited by tribes with Umayyad sympathies and remained
the bitter enemy of the Abbasids, while Egypt witnessed uprisings against Abbasids due to
maladministration and arbitrary taxation. The Umayyads had been established in Spain
in 755, the Idrisids in Morocco in 788, and the Aghlabids in Ifriqiya in 800. Besides,
unrest flared up in Yemen, and the Kharijites rose in rebellion in Daylam, Kerman, Fars
and Sistan. Revolts also broke out in Khorasan, and al-Rashid waged many campaigns against
the Byzantines.
For the administration of the whole empire, he fell back on his mentor and longtime associate
Yahya bin Khalid bin Barmak. Rashid appointed him as his vizier with full executive powers,
and, for seventeen years, this man Yahya and his sons, served Rashid faithfully in whatever
assignment he entrusted to them. Al-Rashid appointed Ali bin Isa bin Mahan
as the governor of Khorasan. He tried to bring to heel the princes and chieftains of the
region, and to reimpose the full authority of the central government on them. This new
policy met with fierce resistance and provoked numerous uprisings in the region. A major
revolt led by Rafi ibn al-Layth was started in Samarqand which forced Harun al-Rashid
to move to Khorasan. He first removed and arrested Ali bin Isa bin Mahan but the revolt
continued unchecked. Harun al-Rashid died very soon when he reached Sanabad village
in Tus and was buried in the nearby summer palace of Humayd ibn Qahtaba, the former Abbasid
governor in Khorasan. Al-Rashid virtually dismembered the empire
by apportioning it between his two sons al-Amin and al-Ma'mun. Very soon it became clear that
by dividing the empire, Rashid had actually helped to set the opposing parties against
one another, and had provided them with sufficient resources to become independent of each other.
After the death of Harun al-Rashid, civil war broke out in the empire between his two
sons, al-Amin and al-Ma'mun, which spiralled into a prolonged period of turmoil and warfare
throughout the Caliphate, ending only with Ma'mun's final triumph in 827.
Both Einhard and Notker the Stammerer refer to envoys travelling between Harun's and Charlemagne's
courts, amicable discussions concerning Christian access to the Holy Land and the exchange of
gifts. Notker mentions Charlemagne sent Harun Spanish horses, colourful Frisian cloaks and
impressive hunting dogs. In 802 Harun sent Charlemagne a present consisting of silks,
brass candelabra, perfume, balsam, ivory chessmen, a colossal tent with many-colored curtains,
an elephant named Abul-Abbas, and a water clock that marked the hours by dropping bronze
balls into a bowl, as mechanical knights—one for each hour—emerged from little doors
which shut behind them. The presents were unprecedented in Western Europe and may have
influenced Carolingian art. When the Byzantine empress Irene was deposed,
Nikephoros I became emperor and refused to pay tribute to Harun, saying that Irene should
have been receiving the tribute the whole time. News of this angered Harun, who wrote
a message on the back of the Roman emperor's letter and said "In the name of God the most
merciful, From Amir al-Mu'minin Harun al-Rashid, commander of the faithful, to Nikephoros,
dog of the Romans. Thou shalt not hear, thou shalt behold my reply". After campaigns in
Asia Minor, Nikephoros was forced to conclude a treaty, with humiliating terms.
Harun made the pilgrimage to Mecca several times, e.g., 793, 795, 797, 802 and last in
803. Tabari concludes his account of Harun's reign with these words: "It has been said
that when Harun al-Rashid died, there were nine hundred million odd in the state treasury."
Al-Rashid sent embassies to the Chinese Tang dynasty and established good relations with
them. He was called "A-lun" in the Chinese T'ang Annals.
In 807 Caliph Harun al-Rashid issued a decree that Jews wear a yellow belt and that Christians
wear a blue belt. In 808, Harun went to settle the insurrection
of Rafi ibn al-Layth in Transoxania, became ill, and died in 809. He was buried under
the palace of Hamid ibn Qahtabi, the governor of Khurasan. The location later became known
as Mashhad because of the martyrdom of Imam ar-Ridha in 818. Another tradition maintains
that the tomb of Harun was razed in the Mongol raids of 1220, by forces under the command
of Genghis Khan. Anecdotes
Many anecdotes attached themselves to the person of Harun al-Rashid in the centuries
following his rule. Saadi of Shiraz inserted a number of them into his Gulistan, in one
telling how Harun enjoined his son to forgiveness. Al-Masudi relates a number of interesting
anecdotes in The Meadows of Gold illuminating the character of this caliph. For example,
he recounts Harun's delight when his horse came in first, closely followed by al-Ma'mun's,
at a race Harun held at Raqqa. Al-Masudi tells the story of Harun setting his poets a challenging
task. When others failed to please him, Miskin of Medina succeeded superbly well. The poet
then launched into a moving account of how much it had cost him to learn that song. Harun
laughed saying he knew not which was more entertaining, the song or the story. He rewarded
the poet. There is also the tale of Harun asking Ishaq
ibn Ibrahim to keep singing. The musician did until the caliph fell asleep. Then, strangely,
a handsome young man appeared, snatched the musician's lute, sang a very moving piece,
and left. On awakening and being informed of this, Harun said Ishaq ibn Ibrahim had
received a supernatural visitation. Harun, like a number of caliphs, is given
an anecdote connecting a poem with his death. Shortly before he died, he is said to have
been reading some lines by Abu al-Atahiya about the transitory nature of the power and
pleasures of this world. Popular culture and references
Rex Stout's The League of Frightened Men, page 191, has Mr. Hibbard say, "[Harun-al-Rashid]
was seeking entertainment [not life]." Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote a poem which
started:
One day Haroun Al-Raschid read A book wherein the poet said
Where are the kings and where the rest Of those who once the world possessed?
O. Henry uses the character in his story "The Caliph And The Cad". The theme of the story
is "turning the tables on Haroun al Raschid". Alfred Tennyson wrote a poem in his youth
entitled "Recollections Of The Arabian Nights". Every stanza ends with "of good Haroun Alraschid".
Harun al-Rashid was a main figure and character in several of the stories in some of the oldest
versions of the One Thousand and One Nights. Hārūn ar-Rashīd figures throughout James
Joyce's Ulysses, in a dream of Stephen Dedalus, one of the protagonists. Stephen's efforts
to recall this dream continue throughout the novel, culminating in the novel's fifteenth
episode, wherein some characters also take on the guise of Hārūn.
Harun al-Rashid is also celebrated in a 1923 poem by W.B. Yeats, "The Gift of Harun al-Rashid".
A story of one of Harun's wanderings provides the climax to the narrative game of titles
at the end of Italo Calvino's If on a winter's night a traveler. In Calvino's story, Harun
wanders at night, only to be drawn into a conspiracy in which he is selected to assassinate
the Caliph Harun-al-Rashid. The two protagonists of Salman Rushdie's 1990
novel Haroun and the Sea of Stories are Haroun and his father Rashid Khalifa.
In the Sten science fiction novels by Allan Cole and Chris Bunch, the character of the
Eternal Emperor uses the name "H. E. Raschid" when incognito; this is confirmed, in the
final book of the series, as a reference to the character from Burton's translation of
The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night. In Roald Dahl's story The BFG, the Sultan
of Baghdad says he had an uncle called Caliph Harun al-Rashid who disappeared with his wife
and ten children. The movie The Golden Blade, starring Rock
Hudson and Piper Laurie depicts the adventures of Harun who uses a magic sword to free a
fairy-tale Baghdad from Jafar, the evil usurper of the throne. After he finally wins the hand
of princess Khairuzan she awards him the title Al-Rashid.
The comic book The Sandman features a story set in the world of the One Thousand and One
Nights, with Hārūn ar-Rashīd as the protagonist. It highlights his historical and mythical
role as well as his discussion of the transitory nature of power. The story is included in
the collection The Sandman: Fables and Reflections. Haroun El Poussah in the French comic strip
Iznogoud is a satirical version of Hārūn ar-Rashīd.
In Quest for Glory II, the sultan who adopts the Hero as his son is named Hārūn ar-Rashīd.
He is often seen prophesying on the streets of Shapeir as The Poet Omar.
Harun al-Rashid appears as the leader of Arabia in the video game Civilization 5.
Future US President Theodore Roosevelt, when he was a New York Police Department Commissioner,
was called in the local newspapers "Haroun-al-Roosevelt". In The Master and Margarita, by novelist Mikhail
Bulgakov, Harun al-Rashid is referenced by the character Korovyev in which he warns a
door man not to judge him "by [his] suit," and to reference the story of "the famous
caliph, Harun al-Rashid". In the 1924 film Waxworks, a poet is hired
by a wax museum proprietor to write back-stories for three wax models. Among these wax models
is Harun al-Rashid, played by Emil Jannings. In the 2006 novel Variable Star by Robert
Heinlein and Spider Robinson, chapter 1 is prefaced with a quotation from Alfred, Lord
Tennyson's "Recollections of the Arabian Nights" regarding "good Harun Alrashid," the relevance
of which becomes apparent in chapter 2 when one character relates stories of Harun al-Rahsid
to another character in order to use them as an analogy.
The second chapter in the novel Prince Otto by Robert Louis Stevenson has the title "In
which the Prince Plays Haroun al-Raschid". Haroun al-Rashid has a character page in the
video game "Crusader Kings II", and it is possible to play as his descendants of the
Abbasid dynasty. Harun al-Rashid is mentioned in passing by
the character Madame de Villefort in Alexandre Dumas's novel "The Count of Monte Cristo"
as an example of how different cultures react to poisoners.
References
Further reading al-Masudi, The Meadows of Gold, The Abbasids,
transl. Paul Lunde and Caroline Stone, Kegan paul, London and New York, 1989
al-Tabari "The History of al-Tabari" volume XXX "The 'Abbasid Caliphate in Equilibrium"
transl. C.E. Bosworth, SUNY, Albany, 1989. Clot, André. Harun Al-Rashid and the Age
of a Thousand and One Nights. New Amsterdam Books. ISBN 0-941533-65-4.
Harry St John Bridger Philby. Harun al Rashid 1933.
Einhard and Notker the Stammerer, "Two Lives of Charlemagne," transl. Lewis Thorpe, Penguin,
Harmondsworth, 1977 John H. Haaren, Famous Men of the Middle Ages
[1] William Muir, K.C.S.I., The Caliphate, its
rise, decline, and fall [2] Theophanes, "The Chronicle of Theophanes,"
transl. Harry Turtledove, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 1982
Norwich, John J.. Byzantium: The Apogee. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. ISBN 0-394-53779-3.
Zabeth, Hyder Reza. Landmarks of Mashhad. Alhoda UK. ISBN 964-444-221-0.
The starting statement that he was the fifth Arab Abbasid Caliph that encompassed modern
Iraq is very incomplete because abbaside caliphate during haroon's reign encompassed at least
modern day Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syria and parts of northern Africa.
External links Brentjes, Sonja. "Hārūn al‐Rashīd". In
Thomas Hockey et al. The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. New York: Springer. pp. 474–5.
ISBN 978-0-387-31022-0.