Abdallah al-Mamun Facts

Abdallah al-Mamun (786-833) was the seventh caliph, or ruler of the Islamic Empire, of the Abbasid dynasty. During his reign he encouraged the study of Greek thought, and the balance of power within the caliphate shifted from the Arabs to the non-Arabs.
Al-Mamun was the son of Harun al-Rashid and a Persian slave girl, Marajil. Born about May 786, he was slightly older than his half brother Amin, son of the Arab Zubayda, but Amin was first heir to the caliphate and al-Mamun second. Al-Mamun, however, became governor of the eastern provinces, with Fadl ibn-Sahl as vizier. When Harun died in March 809, al-Mamun recognized Amin as caliph but kept his position in the eastern provinces. Tension between the half brothers led to war in 811, which ended in September 813 with the fall of Baghdad and the death of Amin.
Al-Mamun became caliph but continued to reside in the East despite disturbances in Iraq, Syria, and Egypt. In the struggle of rival interest groups, al-Mamun, hoping for wider support, in 817 designated as his successor Ali ar-Rida, head of the descendants of Ali, Mohammed's cousin. This step provoked a revolt in Baghdad, and Ibrahim, al-Mamun's uncle, was proclaimed caliph. Al-Mamun moved slowly back toward Iraq, entered Baghdad without difficulty, and ended the revolt (819). Ali ar-Rida had meanwhile died at Meshed.
For most of the rest of the reign there were disorders to be suppressed in various parts of the empire. Despite this fact, however, trade flourished, and the Abbasids were at the zenith of their prosperity. By 830 al-Mamun felt capable of mounting annual expeditions against the Byzantines. It was on one of these that he died in August 833 at Tarsus.

Development of Subject Dynasties

A significant development was the rise of a semi-independent hereditary dynasty under the caliph. A Persian general called Tahir played a large part in al-Mamun's success against his brother. After some time in the West, he was in 821 made governor of Khurasan, where there was serious trouble. Tahir gave signs of aiming at independence, and, when he died in 822, al-Mamun, who could not risk losing the province, appointed Tahir's son Talha to the governorship. One of Talha's brothers succeeded in 828. On the model of the Tahirids, independent dynasties, nominally appointed by and subordinate to the caliph, became a feature of the Islamic world, until the caliphs had no real power left.

Interest in Greek Philosophy

Al-Mamun became an enthusiast for Greek thought and is credited with the foundation of the "House of Wisdom," an institute for translating foreign, especially Greek, books into Arabic. Translations had been made of Sanskrit and Persian works in the time of his great-grand-father and of Greek books in that of his father. Many Greek books were already extant in Iraq in Syriac translations, and most of the first translations into Arabic were made by Christians from these Syriac versions. The earliest interest of the Arabs was in astronomy (with astrology) and medicine, but Greek philosophy also attracted attention.
The interest in Greek philosophy is linked with the rise of the theological school of the Mutazilites. Nineteenth-century European scholars admired their apparent rationalism and liberal views, such as a belief in freedom of the will. It is now realized that, despite their interest in Greek ideas, they remained close to their Islamic basis. Several leading Mutazilites were prominent at al-Mamun's court, notably Thumama and Ahmad ibn-AbiDuad. Al-Mamun was probably attracted not only by the philosophical but also by the political aspect of their thought, for they were attempting to reconcile contemporary tensions. The stimulation of interest in Greek works influenced the whole subsequent course of Islamic thought.
In accordance with Mutazilite teaching, al-Mamun established toward the end of his reign (perhaps in 827) the Inquisition, or Mihna. All higher officials had publicly to profess that they believed the Koran to be the created, not the uncreated, speech of God. This was not mere theological hairsplitting but the basis of a hoped-for compromise between opposing forces. Most officials made the required declaration, but a leading jurist, Ahmad ibn-Hanbal, refused and was prevented from lecturing. The Inquisition lasted until about 850.

Further Reading on Abdallah al-Mamun

There is no full-length study of al-Mamun in English, although there is a chapter on him in Philip K. Hitti, Makers of Arab History (1968). Walter M. Patton, Ahmed ibn Hanbal and the Mihna (1897), is concerned in part with the Inquisition under al-Mamun. He is mentioned briefly in general histories of the period.

Born: September 13, 786 AD, Baghdad, Iraq

Died: August 833 AD, Tarsus, Turkey

House: Abbasid Caliphate

Parents: Harun al-Rashid, Marajil

Siblings: Al-Mu'tasim, Al-Amin

Organizations founded: House of Wisdom

 

 

 

 

 

 Al-Muʿtaṣim,  (born 794—died Jan. 5, 842), eighth ʿAbbāsid caliph, a younger son of Hārūn ar-Rashīd.Succeeding his brother al-Maʾmūn in 833, al-Muʿtaṣim was the first caliph to employ the Turkish mercenaries who later came to dominate the ʿAbbāsid dynasty. In 837 he crushed a revolt of Persian schismatics led by the rebel Bābak, who was cooperating with the Greeks. After the Byzantine emperor Theophilus had laid waste the Muslim town of Zibaṭra (known to the Byzantines as Sozopetra), al-Muʿtaṣim invaded Asia Minor, defeated Theophilus, and destroyed the fortresses of Ancyra (Ankara) and Amorium (August 838).

Al-Manṣūr, in full Abū Jaʿfar ʿAbd Allāh al-Manṣūr ibn Muḥammad   (born 709–714, Al-Ḥumaymah, Syria [Jordan]—died October 7, 775, near Mecca, Arabia [now in Saudi Arabia]), the second caliph of the ʿAbbāsid dynasty (754–775), generally regarded as the real founder of the ʿAbbāsid caliphate. He established the capital city at Baghdad (762–763).Al-Manṣūr was born at Al-Ḥumaymah, the home of the ʿAbbāsid family after their emigration from the Hejaz in 687–688. His father, Muḥammad, was a great-grandson of ʿAbbās; his mother was a Berber slave.
Shortly before the overthrow of the Umayyads, the first dynasty of caliphs, by an army of rebels from Khorāsān, many of whom were influenced by propaganda spread by the ʿAbbāsids, the last Umayyad caliph, Marwān II, arrested the head of the ʿAbbāsid family, al-Manṣūr’s brother Ibrāhīm. Al-Manṣūr fled with the rest of the family to Kūfah in Iraq, where some of the leaders of the Khorāsānian rebels gave their allegiance to another brother of al-Manṣūr, Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Saffāḥ, Ibrāhīm having died in captivity. Al-Saffāḥ was the first ʿAbbāsid caliph.
Because his brother died in 754, after only five years as caliph, it was upon al-Manṣūr that the main burden of establishing the ʿAbbāsid caliphate fell. Al-Manṣūr had played an important part in wiping out the last remnants of Umayyad resistance. During his brother’s caliphate he led an army to Mesopotamia, where he received the submission of a governor after informing him of the death of the last Umayyad caliph. In Iraq itself, the last Umayyad governor had taken refuge with his army in a garrison town. Promised a safe-conduct by al-Manṣūr and the caliph, he surrendered the town, only to be executed with a number of his followers.
A danger to al-Manṣūr’s caliphate came from a number of revolts by ambitious army commanders. The most serious of these was the revolt in 754 of al-Manṣūr’s uncle, ʿAbd Allāh, who thought he had better claims to the caliphate than his nephew. The danger was only averted with the help of Abū Muslim, one of the chief organizers of the revolt against the Umayyads.
Al-Manṣūr was largely responsible for cutting the ʿAbbāsids free from the movement that had brought them to power. While his brother was still caliph, al-Manṣūr was involved in the murder of several leading persons in that movement. Upon becoming caliph himself, one of his first acts was to bring about the death of the man who had helped him become caliph, Abū Muslim. These acts served both to remove potential rivals and to dissociate the ʿAbbāsids from their “extremist” supporters.
Perhaps in reaction to this policy, a number of revolts broke out, in which some of the pre-Islamic religions of Iran were involved. In 755 in Khorāsān, a certain Sunbadh, described as a magi (here probably meaning a follower of the Mazdakite heresy, not an orthodox Zoroastrian), revolted, demanding vengeance for the murdered Abū Muslim. Another group connected with the name of Abū Muslim, the Rāwandiyyah, was charged with belief in the transmigration of souls and holding al-Manṣūr to be their god. Because of these excesses, al-Manṣūr had to suppress them, probably in 757–758. Finally, in 767 al-Manṣūr had to put down another revolt in Khorāsān, the leader of which was accused of claiming to be a prophet.
Probably the most frustrated of those who had worked against the Umayyads were those who had believed they were fighting for a leader from among the descendants of the Prophet Muhammad’s closest male relative, ʿAlī. When it became clear that the ʿAbbāsids had no intention of handing over power to an ʿAlid, these groups again moved into opposition. Al-Manṣūr’s consequent harsh treatment of the ʿAlids led to a rebellion in 762–763, which was quickly put down.
Al-Manṣūr’s achievement, however, was not based simply upon military power. His most lasting monument is the great city of Baghdad, upon which work began, at his command, in 762. The decision to build Baghdad was probably partly due to the restlessness of the chief towns in Iraq, Basra and, especially, Kūfah, but, in part, too, it was a statement by al-Manṣūr that the ʿAbbāsids had come to stay. It was significant that he considered taking some material for the construction of Baghdad from the ruins of Ctesiphon, the capital of the last native Iranian dynasty.
Another reason for the construction of the new capital was the need to house the rapidly growing bureaucracy, developed by al-Manṣūr under the influence of Iranian ideas in an attempt to provide a more stable basis for ʿAbbāsid rule.
By these political and military measures al-Manṣūr firmly established the ʿAbbāsid caliphate. Furthermore, he arranged the succession in favour of his son, al-Mahdī, and every future ʿAbbāsid caliph could trace his descent directly to al-Manṣūr.
Al-Manṣūr is described as a tall, lean man, with a brown complexion and a sparse beard. There are a number of anecdotes designed to illustrate the simplicity of his life, his tightfistedness, his love of poetry, and his objection to music. He died in 775 on his way to Mecca to perform the pilgrimage and was buried near the holy city.