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By: Martin Nick


A great caring ruler

  The name of Haroon Al Rashid resonates a magical mix of almost mythical qualities and deeds with the image of a very real political and intelectual leader. Indeed, his legacy occupies a special place in the Arabic psyche as the most famous of the Abbasid rulers. The following text is a review of this great man’s life.

  Haroon Al Rashid, roughly was born in the year of 766AD in the family of the Abbasid dynasty. His father was Al Mahdi, the ruling Abbasid Caliph at the time. His mother, the caliph’s wife, was a former slave girl from Yemen who would later become influential in the political arena. Her name was Al Khayzuran.

  In his early years, Haroon was tutored by his vizier, or chief court minister, Yahya the Barmakid. Yahya was also an open supporter of Haroon's mother Al Khayzuran who was fond of him and helped the Barmakid family to effectively increase their influence over the court. In return, Yahya later helped Haroon to become Caliph, well aware that his sons would later be appointed as high officials as a sign of appreciation.

  When he became caliph, Haroon was still in his early twenties. From the first days of his rule, he started gathering a group of well-known intellectuals as his ministers, whose positive work was soon felt by the ordinary people. There were better conditions for trade and business and Baghdad’s prosperity rose quickly, making the city into a commercial and intellectual center. Haroon also built a magnificent palace in Baghdad, unrivaled in its splendour. However, he made sure he stayed close to the people, never secluding himself for long. For this reason, he would disguise himself as an ordinary citizen and would walk out in the small streets and the souqs at night, listening to people and talking with them about their daily concerns. Based on what he personally learned from such visits, his ruling decisions were well apreciated and popular.

  To further the cause of his people, Haroon built many schools where the sciences and art, including poetry, calligraphy, and music were studied and developed. He himself enjoyed writing on phylosophical matters and composing poetry, and was very appreciative of scholars from his caliphate and from the neighbouring states who would come and exchange knowledge.  

A military genius

  Having become a caliph at a young age, Haroon Al Rashid by default became the military leader of the Caliphate. As it turned out, he soon had a chance to prove his military skills. He had previously trained and gained confidence in millitary planning when his father was caliph. At one point, his father authorised him to lead a massive Muslim army of  ninety-five thousand men to invade and conquer Byzantium. The devastation of Constantinople, the capital of the Bizantine Emire, was spared by Empress Irene’s diplomatic policy which resulted in Byzanium’s freedom. In return, humiliated, the Eastern Roman Empire agreed to pay considerable annual compensations of gold to Haroon Al Rashid’s Caliphate. This continued for many years and peace was installed until, in 802, the new Bizantine emperor Nicephorus made a wrong move. Nicephorus sent a letter to Haroon Al Rashid declaring the stop of annual Byzantine payments as well as a command for the caliphate to repay all Byzantine gold they have received throughout the years. The essence of the letter read as follows:

  "Irene was weak and faint-hearted and sold herself and her people to you. She ought to have made you pay reparations to her instead. Immediately repay to me all that she has paid to you, or prepare youself for war."

  As soon as Haroon Al Rashid read the above, he sent a letter back to Constantinople with the followng short content: "From Haroon Al Rashid, Caliph of the Faithful to Nicephorus, the Roman dog: I have read your letter. You will not hear, you will see my reply."  

  What followed the next day was a huge army led by Haroon set to get revenge for this humiliation. The ravaging Muslim force advanced quickly and swept through the Byzantine lands, devastating eveything in its path. Nicephorus had no choice but to surender and to promise to resume regular payments to Rashid Al Haroon. Soon though it was clear that the promise was not kept and this time Haroon Al Rashid vowed not to spare the Byzantine emperor. Just as he was preparing his army for a total invasion over Constantinople, a sudden revolt in his Caliphate broke out. As if this could not come at a worse moment, on his way to the revolting region Haroon died of an illness which had long troubled him.

A splendor builder

  When he was not occupied with military matters and strengthening his rule, Haroon Al Rashid made best use of his time in building his caliphate and the splendor of his palace. This features extensively in the texts of Arab historians. A famous example is the wedding of Haroon’s son, Mamoon. For the wedding ceremony, a hundred enormously massive pearls were poured over around the couple as they sat on a gold carpet decorated by precious stones. The gifts for the guests were balls of musk with coupons allowing the receiver to claim a free slave or land property.

  Contributing very much for the splendor of the court was Zubeidah.  She is apparently the one who set the then fashionable trend of adorning shoes with precious stones and jewelry items. Being an artisan, her own palace was no less splendid than that of Haroon, which he was fond of. For example, in the middle of the palace there was a golden tree, and on the tree’s branches golden birds tweeted melodic tunes by automatic gadgets. The splendor did not end in the courts of the royal palaces. On the banks of the Tigris River, the ports were lined up with ships heavy with loads of Chinese silk, Indian spices and precious stones, Turkish marble, Arabian pearls, and Russian furs.

  With all he did, Haroon Al Rashid will remain revered as the most significant among the Abbasid caliphs. He proved to be an able ruler of his vast empire at the flourishung period of early Muslim development. Arabic and European manuscripts speak of his political and intellectual might, and his nearly mythical personna has in different ways reached us to the present day.

POPULAR CULTURE REFERENCES:

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

  Future U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, when he was a New York Police Department Commissioner, was called in the local newspapers "Haroun-al-Roosevelt" for his habit of lonely all-night rambles on the streets of Manhattan, surreptitiously catching police officers off their posts sleeping or otherwise engaged in restaurants or brothels.

  The character Jafar, in Disney's animated motion picture Aladdin, is vaguely based on Harun's vizier Yahya's son.

  The comic book The Sandman issue 50 featured a story set in the world of the Arabian Nights, with Harun al-Rashid as one of the protagonists. The story, entitled Ramadan, is included in the collection The Sandman: Fables and Reflections.

  The two protagonists of Salman Rushdie's 1990 novel Haroun and the Sea of Stories, Haroun and his father Rashid Khalifa, were clearly named after the Caliph Haroun al-Rashid.

  Haroun al-Rashid figures in the third chapter of James Joyce's Ulysses, in a dream of Stephen Dedalus, one of the protagonists: "Wait. Open hallway. Street of harlots. Remember. Haroun al Raschid. I am almosting it."

CALIPH: Caliph is a designation given to the head of the Islamic community known as the Ummah. The term can be translated as “the one who suceeds”, in referrence to he who succeeds the propher Muhammad. The caliph was usualy ellected from within an group of learned men to represent the head figure of spiritual authority over the Muslim world. However, this title falls short of prophetic stature since Muhammad was, and is, believed to be the last prophet in Islam. The caliph was also called “Emir Al Mumineen”, or the Prince of those who believe. The title was historically officialy last used in the Ottoman Empire.

TIMELINE:

766: Year of Haroon Al Rashid's birth as the son of Caliph Al Mahdi and his former-slave wife of Yemeni descent Al Khayzuran.

780: Haroon Al Rashid undertakes first armed invasions of the Byzantine Empire.

782: Haroon Al Rashid invasion forces reach as far as the Bosporus, resulting in negotiations with Byzantine. The following peace treaty results in Byzantine post-war compensations to Haroon's Caliphate. Haroon is officially namer Al Rashid, meaning "the upright". Gaining popularity, he is promoted to second in succession to the Caliph and becomes acting governor of Tunisia, Syria, Egypt, Azarbeijan and Armenia.

786: Al Hady, brother of Haroon Al Rashid dies of unknown causes, perhaps as a result of his mother's efforts. This results in making Haroon Al Rashid the new Caliph along with promoting Yahya the Barmakid as Haroon's Grand Vizier. His mother, Al Khayzuran remains influential.

789: Year of Al Khayzuran's death. Without his mother, Haroon Al Rashid consolidates all power in his own hands.

791: Haroon Al Rashid invades again Byzantine in response to a broken treaty, vowing this will be final.

800: Haroon makes Ibrahim Ibn Al Aghlab the governor of Tunisia, granting him a semi-autonomous status in return for significant annual compensations.

803: Year of Yahya's death. resulting in total ruling power at Haroon Al Rashid's disposal.

807: Haroon Al Rashid tries further concuests and his army invades Cyprus.

809: Year of Haroon Al Rashid's death. He is succeeded by his son.

   

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