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HARUN

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Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 37 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HARUN AL-RASHID (763 or 766-809), i.e. " Harun the Orthodox," the fifth of the `Abbasid caliphs of See also:

Bagdad, and the second son of the third See also:caliph See also:Mandi. His full name was Harun See also:ibn Muhammad ibn `Abdallah ibn Muhammad ibn `See also:Ali ibn `Abdallah ibn `Abbas. He was See also:born at Rai (Rhagae) on the 20th of See also:March A.D. 763, according to some accounts, and according to others on the 15th of See also:February A.D. 766. Harun al-Rashid was twenty-two years old when he ascended the See also:throne. His See also:father Mandi just before his See also:death conceived the See also:idea of superseding his See also:elder son Musa (afterwards known as Hach, the See also:fourth caliph) by Harun. But on Mandi's death Harun gave way to his See also:brother. For the See also:campaigns in which he took See also:part See also:prior to his See also:accession see See also:CALIPHATE, See also:section C, The See also:Abbasids, §§ 3 and 4. Rashid owed his See also:succession to the throne to the prudence and sagacity of Yahya b. Khalid the Barmecide, his secretary, whom on his accession he appointed his See also:lieutenant and See also:grand See also:vizier (see BARHECIDES).

Under his guidance the See also:

empire flourished on the whole, in spite of several revolts in the provinces by members of the old Alid See also:family. Successful See also:wars were waged with the rulers of See also:Byzantium and the See also:Khazars. In 803, however, Harun became suspicious of the See also:Barmecides, whom with only a single exception he caused to be executed. Henceforward the See also:chief See also:power was exercised by Fadl b. Rabi', who had been See also:chamberlain not only under Harlin himself but under his predecessors, Mansur, Madhi and HadI. In the later years of Harun's reign troubles arose in the eastern parts of the empire. These troubles assumed proportions so serious that Harlin himself decided to go to See also:Khorasan. He died, however, at Tus in March 809. The reign of Harun (see CALIPHATE, section C, § 5) was one of the most brilliant in the See also:annals of the caliphate, in spite of losses in See also:north-See also:west See also:Africa and Transoxiana. His fame spread to the West, and See also:Charlemagne and he exchanged gifts and compliments as masters respectively of the West and the See also:East. No caliph ever gathered See also:round him so See also:great a number of learned men, poets, jurists, grammarians, cadis and See also:scribes, to say nothing of the wits and musicians who enjoyed his patronage. Harun himself was a See also:scholar and poet, and was well versed in See also:history, tradition and See also:poetry.

He possessed See also:

taste and discernment, and his dignified demeanour is extolled by the historians. In See also:religion he was extremely strict; he prostrated himself a See also:hundred times daily, and nine or ten times made the See also:pilgrimage to See also:Mecca. At the same See also:time he cannot be regarded as a great See also:administrator. He seems to have See also:left everything to his viziers Yahya and Fadl, to the former of whom especially was due the prosperous See also:condition of the empire. Harun is best known to Western readers as the See also:hero of many of the stories in the Arabian Nights; and in Arabic literature he is the central figure of numberless anecdotes and humorous stories. Of his incognito walks through Bagdad, however, the See also:authentic histories say nothing. His Arabic biographers are unanimous in describing him as See also:noble and generous, but there is little doubt that he was in fact a See also:man of little force of See also:character, suspicious, untrustworthy and on occasions cruel. See the Arabic histories of Ibn al-Athir and Ibn Khaldun. Among See also:modern See also:works see See also:Sir W. See also:Muir, The Caliphate (See also:London, 1891) ; R. D. See also:Osborn, See also:Islam under the Khalifs of Bagdad (London, 1878) ; Gustav Weil, Geschichte der Chalifen (See also:Mannheim and See also:Stuttgart, 1846-1862); G. le See also:Strange, Baghdad during the Abbasid Caliphate (See also:Oxford, 1900) ; A.

See also:

Muller, Der Islam, vol. i. (See also:Berlin, 1885) ; E. H. See also:Palmer, The Caliph Haroun Alraschid (London, 188o) ; J. B. See also:Bury's edition of See also:Gibbon's Decline and Fall (London, 1898), vol. vi. pp. - 34 See also:foil.

End of Article: HARUN

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