Episode 56: The great fitna

Haroon al Rashid divided his realm among his children, and the young men were quickly goaded into conflict with one another by their advisors. The unexperienced princes found the underlying tensions simply too powerful to overcome. But the predictability of war was upended by its unpredictable outcome. Fortune swung violently from one party to the other, leaving the caliphate forever changed.

Map

Glossary

• Al Amin: after a short and unconvincing reign of four and a half years, our caliph suffered an unhappy end. Our sources make him seem so unfit for the job that we’re left wondering what anyone was expecting of him as caliph. While he was not completely blameless in the war against his brother, his role is dwarfed by either Fadl ibn Rabi’s or ibn Mahan’s. 
• Al Ma’mun: al Rashid’s eldest son, half-brother of the caliph, and the umma’s next leader, al Ma’mun will play a huge part in Abbasid history. Like his father and great grandfather before him, it will be a challenge to cover his widely influential reign. 
• Ali ibn Isa ibn Mahan: by this point, ibn Mahan had accumulated quite a few titles. We could refer to him as the previous governor of Khurasan, the leader of the abna’, or the most hated man in the East. He was restored to standing by al Amin, and proceeded to goad him into conflict with his brother so he could regain what he considered his own fief. In his final act, he bungled the invasion of Khurasan and died in the process. How he got killed by 5,000 horsemen when he had an army of 40,000 with which to defend himself is a mystery, but hubris seems to have had something to do with it.
• Fadl ibn Rabi’: having been hajib to both his father and uncle, al Rashid, and al Hadi, this experienced courtier found it easy to convince al Amin that he was the right man to trust with running the caliphate. His early efforts to replace al Amin’s brothers with his children were meant to ensure his continued influence over the state. He took advantage of how uninterested the caliph was in government to amass power and wealth, and he hightailed it as soon as things went south. 
• Fadl ibn Sahl: al Ma’mun’s wazir is described as instrumental in Khurasan’s victory over the caliphate. He is often portrayed as being more sympathetic to Persian culture, sometimes even of having an animus against the Arabs. He will remain pivotal for some years to come, so we’ll be hearing more about him soon.
• Tahir ibn Husayn: a descendent of nobility from Herat, this commander in the Khorasani armies became an important part of al Ma’mun’s armies. He had joined Harthama in his fight against Rafi’, then returned to Merv in time for news of ibn Mahan’s invasion. His victory over ibn Mahan was a legendary triumph, but his destruction of Baghdad overshadows his impressive military record. He ordered al Amin’s execution without checking with his leadership because he wanted to make sure the caliphate had no alternative to al Ma’mun. Many of the abna’ joined his armies, but very few Arabs, who despite never really accepting the abna’ as equals still preferred them to the foreigners besieging their capital. 
• Harthama ibn A’yan: the only leader of the abna’ that was in Khurasan when the fitna began, Harthama sided with al Ma’mun in this fateful contest, which made him his most Arab commander. He removed ibn Mahan, defeated Rafi’s rebellion, then mustered more troops to take to Tahir after his victory. His journey from Hulwan to the capital’s north was even less eventful than Tahir’s, probably because he was less of a stranger in those parts, and the caliph’s move against his brother had proven unpopular outside the capital. 
• Abdulrahman ibn Jabla: one of the lead of the abna’, he led an army of 20,000 to Hamadan where he lost a series of encounters with Tahir.
• Abdallah ibn Hameed ibn Qahtaba: Qahtaba’s grandson may or may not have led another 20,000 to Hulwan, where his forces feuded with the Shaybani tribal army sent to support them against Tahir.
• Asad ibn Yazid ibn Mazyad al Shaybani: the leader of the Shaybani tribe was ready to lead it to battle for the caliph, but he seems to have caught al Amin on a bad day and rubbed him the wrong way. He was imprisoned for his insolence and his uncle Khalid ibn Mazyad al Shaybani was tasked with leading the tribe instead. They either fought with ibn Qahtaba’s forces in Hulwan or abandoned the caliph entirely, because whatever they did they did not face Tahir’s Khurasani forces.
• Husayn ibn Ali ibn Isa ibn Mahan: the younger ibn Mahan was sent to Syria, either to support recruitment efforts or to tamp down the rebellion which that fiasco had turned into. He completely lost faith in al Amin after that and brazenly imprisoned the caliph for a few days before other leaders of the abna’ overpowered his unit and freed him. Husayn was originally released by al Amin, but when he was spotted trying to flee the capital he was killed on the spot.