The Chaliphate - Muir - The Search For Mecca

4'SS AL-AMIN AND AL-MA'MUN [ciiai>. i.xv.
A.H. 193- in great numbers in and around Merv, and also the Turkish
^^ chiefs and princes, from whom a fourth of their tribute was
Ma'mun now forgiven. Al-Ma'mun's mother was of Persian blood,
Cahph of
^ fortunate relation that commended him to the affections
Hast, with
Ibn Sa'il of the people. " Son of our sister," they said, " he is one
miSer
^^ ourselves, and an ' Abbasid to boot." As the breach
196 A.H.' with his brother widened, he assumed the title of Caliph,
812 A.D.
making Al-Fadl his Prime minister, both civil and military,
whose rule ran from Hamadan to Thibet, from the Caspian
Strained
relations
to the Persian Gulf.^ Meanwhile peace was restored
throughout Khorasan. Harthama after a long siege took
Samarkand, and Rafi' hearing of Al-Ma'mOn's benign
administration, threw himself on his mercy and was
pardoned.
Al-Amin, on the other hand, was a weak voluptuary led at
^y[\[ ^y those about him. His Wazir was another Al-Fadl,
Am^n^and Ibn ar-Rabl', who having been Chief minister with Hariui
Ma'mun.
^t Tus, was party to what took place there upon his death.
In consequence he dreaded the vengeance of Al-Ma'miln
should he ever come to power, and persuaded Al-Amin
to proclaim that his son's name should have precedence
of Al-Ma'mun's in the public prayers. Al-Ma'mun retaliated
by dropping from the weekly Service all mention of Al-Amin,
and by effectually closing every avenue of communication
Amin with Bagdad. At last Al-Amin took the fatal step of
deposes
declaring his brother altogether deposed from the succes-
Ma mun,
fc"
...
194.-195 A.H. sion, and his own son heir-apparent. Of a piece with this
810A.D.
high-handed act, he sent to the Ka'ba for the two documents,
solemnly suspended by his father, within the sacred
His dissi- walls, and tore them in shreds. Surrounded by eunuchs
P^^^^ and women, he passed his time in revelry and dissipation.
Songstresses and slave-girls, gathered for their beauty from
all parts of the empire and arrayed in splendid jewelry, were
the chief society of himself and his boon companions. For
his /c'/es on the Tigris he had five gondolas, in the shapes
of lion, elephant, eagle, serpent, and horse. Besides the
private carousals in which he made no secret of drinking
wine, his festivities were of the most sumptuous kind. For
one of these he had the banquet-hall decked out with
i.e.^
'
He was called Dhu'r-RCasaieiHy "Minister of the two departments,"
both civil and military.