The Great Abbasid Civil War | 809CE – 819CE 1

The Great Abbasid Civil War | 809CE – 819CE

When the great caliph Harun al-Rashid died in 809CE, he left behind an
extensive plan of succession. He was to be succeeded by his son
Muhammad. Muhammad was to be succeeded by Abdullah, another one
of Harun’s sons. The caliph had held very public ceremonies to get
everyone to agree to this arrangement. An official agreement was signed
by both princes while standing in Makkah, the holiest city. Now that the
caliph was dead, Muhammad became the caliph and took the title of
al-Amin, ‘the trustworthy’.
The caliph died away from the capital and the news travelled some 1,900
kilometres in just 10-11 days. That's more than 150kms a day. That's how
effective the postal service was. Along with the letter containing the news
of the caliph's death travelled the insignia of royalty, the mantle of the
prophet, the sceptre and the caliph's seal, for that, it's said, was the
caliphate. The new caliph invited the people of the capital to the mosque
and delivered the news to them after which they swore loyalty to him.
A similar ceremony was happening in Merv, in Khorasan. Muhammad’s
brother, and heir, Abdullah was sworn in as the governor of the region.
According to Harun's original plan, Abdullah, who took the title of
al-Mamun, would be the autonomous governor of Khorasan. It was an
uneasy arrangement. The brothers didn't really like each other but they
were willing to tolerate each other. al-Amin was a young man who would
probably live another twenty years or so. Hence, what Harun's agreement
had done was to plan twenty years into the future with a court full of
intrigue. No way this could go wrong.
Almost immediately, sides started to appear. Various parts of the empire
were becoming increasingly polarized. The establishment in Baghdad
wanted al-Amin to push al-Mamun out of succession. They wanted him to
install his own son as heir because they had more access to him. Fadl ibn
Rabi, his father’s old chamberlain, was pushing al-Amin. In the letter
between the two administrations, there was a lot of hostility. al-Amin and
al-Mamun themselves weren’t that hostile, though. When things began to
get heated, al-Mamun asked al-Amin to send his family along with his
personal wealth which was still in Baghdad, al-Amin refused nicely saying
the road to Merv is long and dangerous so he'd prefer not to put his
relatives in unnecessary risk and he could make better use of the wealth in
The Great Abbasid Civil War | 809CE – 819CE 2

Baghdad. They were being passive aggressive but not the other kind of
aggressive. They weren’t always talking to each other, though. Sometimes,
the letters were answered by Fadl ibn Rabi and other senior members of
the court and they not only lit the fire, they had brought the fuel as well. At
this point, they weren't trying to avoid a war, they were just telling each
other that if a war breaks out, it would be your fault, not mine.
Al-Amin was finally convinced and he stopped the clergy from
acknowledging al-Mamun as the heir in Friday Sermons. He also had the
original agreement of Harun al-Rashid brought from Makkah where it had
been hanging inside the Kabbah. He tore it up himself. The writing was
now on the wall. al-Amin had just crossed the Rubicon. The military were
given two years’ worth of salary as bonus from the treasury Harun had left
behind. al-Tabari notes that he left almost a billion dirhams. The military’s
loyalty was bought. Another group that was influential inside Baghdad was
the Abna. The Abna were the families of the soldiers who had actually
overthrown the Umayyads more than fifty years ago. They were Khorasani
and they were needed to maintain control of Baghdad in case a war breaks
out. al-Amin put Ali ibn Isa ibn Mahan as their commander. The man had
previously been the governor of Khorasan. He had a reputation for being a
tyrant who was incredibly unpopular in Khorasan. Harun’s last act as caliph
had been to depose him and install al-Mamun as the governor of
Khorasan. Still, the Abna became loyal to him and hence, to al-Amin.
Everyone east of the Zagros was on al-Amin’s side. By the end of 810CE.
Within just 18 months of Harun’s death, both sides started making military
preparations. Harun planned for twenty years into the future. It didn't even
work for twenty months.
2000 kilometres away, al-Mamun was told about this by his spies in
Baghdad. His strings are being pulled by Fadl ibn Sahl, a Khorasani
aristocrat. He was a brilliant man and reminds me of Muawiyah and
al-Mansur in his political and diplomatic abilities. He knew war was
inevitable, he had been one of the architects of the war, after all. He
manipulated al-Amin through his agents in Baghdad to install Ali ibn Isa
ibn Mahan, the former unpopular governor of Khorasan to head the army
he had assembled against al-Mamun. Then, he rallied the Khorasani
people to assemble to defend al-Mamun. The Khorasani who hated Ali ibn
Isa quickly united in fear that if al-Amin wins, Ali would be put as the
governor again. Both sides now had armies.
The Great Abbasid Civil War | 809CE – 819CE 3

al-Amin sent his 50,000 men under the command of Ali ibn Isa. al-Mamun
had only three or four thousand soldiers. Fadl put them in the command of
a young commander, Tahir ibn Hussain. Tahir was sent to defend Rayy
which was on the road to Merv. This was in May, 811. Rayy had previously
been al-Mahdi’s fortress during his rule as the governor before he became
caliph. He had built extensive fortifications for the city but when Ali ibn Isa
arrived to attack, Tahir couldn't stay in the city. He was afraid that the
people might rise up against him. After all, he was facing an army ten
times his. The people of the city were scared of a sack and would have
surrendered despite Tahir’s efforts. Tahir faced them out in the open field.
The events are unclear but what we do know is that Ali ibn Isa was killed
during the battle. His army, which was winning, didn't feel so good and
disintegrated. Tahir had won the battle against an army ten times his own.
al-Mamun, who was expecting bad news, was surprised and overjoyed.
Fadl ibn Sahl had exhausted himself preparing a relief force. Tahir, without
orders, began to push West. This far, the war had been about deposing
al-Mamun, but now, the war was about the caliphate.
Despite losing terribly, al-Amin still had the upper hand. First of all, he had
Harun's treasury. Secondly, he controlled the richer provinces like Egypt
and Iraq. Finally, he had the Abna soldiers and the entire Abbasid dynasty
behind him. He also held hostage al-Mamun’s wife and son. However, he
made one terrible mistake. He had the agreement of succession torn up.
The agreement had been sworn over and hung inside the Kaaba. God was
effectively made protector of the sanctity of the agreement. Breaking it
alienated a lot of people who felt like al-Amin had invited the wrath of God.
Perhaps the worst thing to happen to al-Amin was that he received the
news of the defeat two months after. He had no backup plans. Tahir was
determined to reach Iraq before winter. He arrived in Hulwan, dangerously
close to the capital, by early Autumn.
Fadl ibn Rabi went on to assemble a new army. He might already be too
late so they were desperate. The Abna were 20,000 strong but al-Amin
thought that if he relied on them alone, he'd become their puppet. They
had already been making increasingly unacceptable demands. To counter
their weight, he sent Fadl to the Arabs. One chief Asad ibn Yazid could
unite all of them. However, he had his own demands. In addition to getting
freehand with the cities and forts he wanted, he demanded that
al-Mamun’s children be handed over to him to use as hostages. al-Amin
called him, “Nothing more than a mad Bedouin” and told him the children
The Great Abbasid Civil War | 809CE – 819CE 4

were his family and he wouldn't use them like this. He put him under
arrest and reached his uncle, Ahmad ibn Mazyad instead. He agreed to
provide his 20,000 troops as well.
The allied army arrived at Khanaqin, now a border post between Iraq and
Iran. Both the Abna and the Arabs were looking to gain influence to make
sure when this was over, they’d be able to control the caliphate. Cracks
started to appear as these two couldn’t work together. Knowing this, Tahir
sent his agents into the camps to sow further discontent. Chaos broke out
in al-Amin’s forces. It’s said that he himself was kidnaped by one faction or
the other a few times in order to get their demands. Meanwhile, Fadl ibn
Sahl’s reinforcements finally arrived in Hulwan. They had sent a new
commander, Harthama ibn Ayan who had been a member of Harun
al-Rashid’s establishment. He was perhaps the only member of the
establishment who supported al-Mamun. He had known both al-Amin and
al-Mamun since childhood. He took over at Hulwan to protect the entry
into the Zagros while Tahir took his men out to sweep across southern Iraq.
He was something of an expert at fast-moving warfare. Ahwaz was a
controlled by a man named Muhammad ibn Yazid al-Muhallabi, those of
you who play Crusader Kings II are probably familiar with the name as his
relatives ruled major parts of the caliphate. Tahir met him near Ahvaz and
defeated his forces. Other cities like Basra and Wasit surrendered soon
after.
Meanwhile, in the holy cities, the governor Dawood ibn Isa, a member of
the Abbasid dynasty was riling up the people against al-Amin. The main
point of contention was that al-Amin had torn the agreement that
effectively had God as its witness. He and most of Hijaz acknowledge
al-Mamun as caliph. By August 812CE, al-Mamun was considered Caliph in
most of the caliphate. The allied force of the Abna and Arabs had broken
up. Southern Iraq had been cleared. Now, Tahir and Harthama moved on to
Baghdad.
The siege of the city began on 25th of August, 812CE. While they were
surrounded and abandoned, the people of the city put up fierce resistance.
Fadl ibn Rabi went into hiding which he would stay in for eight years.
Gangs formed in the city. Some to harass and rob the city while some
fought against the invading force. The city, being surrounded on two sides
with rivers, wasn’t easy to take. It was besieged and ravaged. Poets write
heart-breaking poems on the events that went on inside the city. Tahir
himself destroyed everything outside the Round City. The great palaces
The Great Abbasid Civil War | 809CE – 819CE 5

were torn apart and their material sold for supplies for the army. By Spring
of 813CE, al-Amin was all but broken. He decided to surrender to
Harthama, who was an old friend of the family. However, when he tried to
escape, he was arrested by Tahir’s men. Tahir didn’t want him surrendering
to Harthama because that would diminish his own importance in the
aftermath. A man named Ahmad ibn Sallam was also arrested and put
under arrest. He spent the next night in the same room as al-Amin. He
writes…
While we were standing there [in the room where we had been
locked], there was a knock on the door and a fully armed man came in
and looked at Amin closely to make sure who he was and then strode off.
At that moment I knew the caliph was a dead man. Then he begged me
to stay close to him and I could feel that he was terrified. About midnight
there was the noise of horses and another knock on the door. In came a
group of Persians with drawn swords in their hands. Amin stood up to his
full height and said, ‘We are from God and to Him we return’. The soldiers
hesitated, crowding around the door, pushing each other forward and
urging each other on. I slipped away and hid behind the mats in the
corner while Amin grabbed one of the cushions and began to curse them,
saying he was the cousin of the Prophet, the son of Harun and brother of
Mamun. Then one of them came forward and struck him on his forehead
with a sword but Amin thrust the cushion into his face and tried to grab
the man’s weapon. He cried out that he was being killed and instantly
they all rushed at him. One of them stabbed him in the chest. They
wrestled him to the ground and cut his throat from the back of his neck.
Then they took his head to Tahir, leaving the corpse behind. At first light
they came and rolled the body up in its clothes and took it away.
Al-Mamun had won the civil war and was now the sole caliph. However,
peace had all but returned. Fadl ibn Sahl was determined to keep the
caliph in Merv where he could be controlled but the western part of the
empire, the rich provinces of Egypt and Iraq, the Abbasid dynasty,
everyone was unhappy with this. The caliphate seemed to be shifting
further East. In Baghdad, Ibrahim ibn Mahdi, al-Mamun’s uncle, the poet
Prince, was declared caliph. He was reluctant saying he was hardly wise in
his own matters, let alone in other people’s matters. Egypt, Syria, and the
rest of the western provinces were parcelling out of control. The caliph,
finally, in 819CE, decided to return to Baghdad.
The Great Abbasid Civil War | 809CE – 819CE 6

To bring together some factions, he declared that his heir would be Ali
al-Rida, a descendant of Prophet Muhammad’s daughter, an Alid. This was
seen as the half-hearted gesture it was. al-Mamun was young and would
most likely outlive Ali al-Rida. Nevertheless, the caliph started the journey
back to Baghdad. On the way back, his vizier Fadl ibn Sahl was killed in his
bath. When the assassins were caught, they claimed to be acting on
al-Mamun’s orders. Nevertheless, they were executed. When the caliph
arrived in Tus, he visited Harun al-Rashid’s tomb, who had died in this city.
His heir Ali al-Rida died here as well. There were various explanations but
he was probably poisoned by al-Mamun. He was buried next to Harun. This
place is now called Mashhad, “the place of martyrdom” and is one of the
holiest Shia shrines in the world.
Al-Mamun finally arrived in Baghdad and was greeted by Tahir whose
family would go on to become the most influential in the empire after the
Abbasids themselves. Even though he had arrived in Baghdad, the empire
was far from consolidated. The western part was almost completely ruled
by various local lords. Not all of Baghdad itself was happy to see al-Mamun.
Al-Mamun went to Queen Zubayda, Harun’s wife and al-Amin’s mother.
She had been in hiding since al-Amin died but al-Mamun approached her
and restored some of her wealth and property. His own mother had died
when he was in his infancy and Zubayda had been kind to him in his
childhood. Remembering that, he allowed Zubayda to fill the role of Queen
mother. Fadl ibn Rabi came out of hiding and was forgiven. So was Ibrahim
ibn Mahdi, the pretend-caliph. Over the following decade, the empire was
brought back into the control of the Caliph. With the exception of
north-Africa, beyond Egypt and the ever-so-resilient Daylam. al-Mamun
was accepted as the caliph. Peace had finally returned to the Abbasid
Caliphate… or so it seems.
See you next time.