Construction commenced by Abd al-Rahman I (756-788 AD)
| The Grand Mosque at Cordoba, Spain Construction commenced by Abd al-Rahman I (756-788 AD) |
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Thereon, his deep
eye laughter-stirr'd
With merriment of kingly pride,
Sole star of all that place and time,
I saw him -- in his golden prime,
The good Haroun Alraschid.
Alfred Lord Tennyson Recollections of the Arabian
Nights.
The Caliph who features in many of the stories of the Nights (often strolling the streets of Baghdad incognito) was a real person, and provides the reader with an aspect of the collection that makes it so interesting to scholars. He lived from 766 to 809 A.D., reigning from 786; and was the fifth caliph of the Abbasid dynasty of Baghdad, effectively controlling the entire Muslim empire with the exception of Spain. The Abbasids were descended from an uncle of Muhammad, and the dynasty ruled from 750 until 1258.
In 762 Caliph al-Masur built the round city of Baghdad, with the royal residence at the centre, to displace Damascus as the new capital of the Arab world. His grandson Harun married Zubayda in AD 781. Zubayda's mother was Salsal, the sister of Harun ar-Rashid's own mother, named Khaizuran. Marriage to one's cousin was not only perfectly respectable, but it was quite normal in Arabian society. In 782 Harun led (at least in name) a successful expedition to the Bosphorus opposite Constantinople; making peace with the Byzantines on very favourable terms to the Muslims. After the mysterious death of his elder brother in 786, Harun acceded to the caliphate whence he lived in a state of opulence that is accurately described in the Nights. Baghdad flourished under his reign, and his love of art and music engendered a blossoming of culture. The wealthy caliphate sponsored much extravagance. Many great buildings were erected in honour of Rashid; and Baghdad was 'the place to be'.
Rashid's sidekick in many of the stories, the grand visier Giafar (or his wazir Ja'afar or Jiafir) was also a historical character and a member of the Barmecide family. The caliph was in fact tutored by Giafar's father. The family was imprisoned in AD 803 and Giafar was executed on January 29th 803 by Rashid who, according to a rumour of the time, was envious that Giafar, with whom he had had a homosexual relationship, had fallen in love with and produced a child by Harun's sister 'Abbasah. Historians consider it more likely, however, that he was just jealous of the rising power of the Barmecide family. According to Edward Lane, the Barmakids were lovers of poetry conferring rewards on learned men. Their enemies, however, had commissioned poetry against them, and it was one such poem that had influenced the caliph in deciding on their destruction. Lane also tells of how ...
'a person, chancing to look at a register kept by one of the officers of Hároon Er-Rasheed, saw in it the following entry:- "Four hundred thousand pieces of gold, the price of a dress of honour for Jaafar, the son of Yahya, the Wezeer." - A few days later, he saw beneath this written, - "Ten keeráts, the price of naphtha and reeds, for burning the body of Jaafar, the son of Yahya.'
Another historical figure who often accompanied Harun in his incognito wanderings and appears in the Nights was his bodyguard and executioner Masrur, a black eunuch, who was presumably not often out of work. Harun's musician Ishak al-Nadim also appears in the stories.
Edward Lane mentions a proverb that was current in Egypt at the time of the creation of his translation - "Is he the fifth of the sons of El-Abbás?" meaning the fifth Abbasid caliph, Harun al-Rashid. This saying would have been conferred on someone who was remarkable in some way. Harun's wife Zubayda was a notable character in her own right. She was a secret follower of the Ismaili faith (a sect of Shiite Islam) and she built a palace of her own with a large garden. This palace is referred to in a Nights tale in which she and the caliph play large parts; "The Steward's Tale: The Young Man from Baghdad and Lady Zubaida's Maid" from "The Hunchback". We are told in this tale that she "could hardly move under the weight of her dresses and ornaments." As well as living in a state of opulence, Zubayda was responsible for the construction of canals for pilgrims in the Hejaz and the improvement of the pilgrim road between Kufa and Mecca; a massive undertaking, and still known locally as Darb Zubaida. Burton tells us that she "dug wells from Baghdad to Al-Madinah, and built … a wall to direct pilgrims over the shifting sands." He later mentions a cistern on the way to Meccah built by Harun, ...
'the pious tyrant who boasted that every year he performed either a pilgrimage or a crusade. The reader will find in d'Herbelot an account of the celebrated visit of Harun to the Holy Cities. Nor less known in Oriental history is the pilgrimage of Zubaydah Khatun (wife of Harun and mother of Amin) by this route.'
After the death of Rashid in AD 809, his sons al-Amin and al-Ma'mun squabbled as to the succession, and the Abbasid dynasty fell into a long, slow decline. Whilst many of the stories concerning al-Rashid may have been written in the Abbasid period, it would be dangerous to assume that they all were. Half way through the ninth century the caliphs largely lost their power to the religious authorities guided by scholars of Sunni Islam, and this left room for the Turks to gradually take over control - so the stories may have been written at a later period, nostalgic of a time when the Islamic nation was under one ruler.
Zubayda averted the chance of civil war by refusing to seek vengeance against the murder of her son al-Amin in Baghdad, 812 CE. She died in 841, outliving her husband by thirty-two years.
The name of Harun al-Rashid is still revered and commemorated throughout the Arab world.