During his reign the people, accustomed to rendering him the profound respect he demanded, grew to look upon the caliph as the representative of God on earth, and his successors had no difficulty in enforcing obedience. Nay, they were rather concerned to avoid the despotism made easy by their unlimited authority. The first caliphs after Abul Abbas were just princes, who exerted their power for the general and intellectual welfare of the Arabs. Other cities arose beside Baghdad; roads were laid, caravansaries, market-places, canals, and fountains were constructed, learned and charitable institutions were erected, and the study of letters, commerce, and all the arts of peace were directly fostered by the government.
HARUN AR-RASHID (786-809 A.D.)
The magnificence of all previous reigns paled before that of Harun ar-Rashid,[40] Harun the Just (786-809). This famous potentate, in whom the peculiar genius of the Arab race seems to have reached its highest development, merits particular mention among the vicegerents of Mohammed. Brave, generous, and magnanimous, he resisted all temptations to use despotically his supreme power over a people who never murmured at his will, and governed with a sole view to assuring the happiness of his subjects. He loved virtue, was always ready to recognise his own faults, and neglected no occasion of doing good. That he so far belied his character as to decree the murder of the Barmecides shows him to have been deceived by false statements concerning that family, which had furnished him with his ablest statesmen, Fadl and the grand vizier Jafar. Of Persian origin, the Barmecides had figured prominently at court for nearly a century, and it was chiefly at the instigation of their later representatives that Harun ar-Rashid was so active in protecting commerce, industry, and the arts. Singularly enough Emin, Harun’s eldest son, possessed none of the virtues of his father; but his brother, Al-Mamun, showed profound wisdom in governing the affairs of Khorasan and by popular choice he was placed upon the throne in 813, Emin being made to resign his authority.
AL-MAMUN AND HIS SUCCESSORS
[809-847 A.D.]
Al-Mamun surpassed all hopes that had been formed of him. Less brilliant than Harun, he was superior to him in the range of his knowledge and the practical force of his genius. The single political mistake with which he can be reproached was an act of gratitude and kindness. In recompense for services received, he gave to Tahir the hereditary governorship of Khorasan, and this was the first step towards the dismemberment of the eastern caliphate; not because the Tahirites were disposed to abuse their power, but because an unfortunate example had been set, which led the governors of provinces to seek gradually to cut themselves free from the control of their rightful sovereign.
Holding education to be the highest blessing of the people, Al-Mamun opened schools in all parts of his realm, and insured the pursuit of letters by permanent endowments. He gathered about him learned men of all nationalities, and would admit no distinctions in religion. He even decreed that any ten heads of families, whether Christians, Jews, or magi, who assembled for the purpose, could constitute a church, and that all were eligible to appointment for public offices. But, liberal as he was, Al-Mamun was not always safe from hostile attack. The theologians of Baghdad had already been active in putting down zendism, a religion compounded of the beliefs of Islam and the magi; and on Al-Mamun’s making use of some of the writings of this faith to render odious the memory of Abu Muslim, they brought violent accusations against him. To silence his adversaries Al-Mamun increased the penalties against separatism, but true to his principles of tolerance forbore to inflict them.
Al-Mamun’s immediate successors, Mutasim and Wathik, were worthy of the throne. The first-named made the single mistake of forming his body-guard of young Turks, whose later successors were to renew the excesses committed by the prætorians in the time of the Roman emperors; while the reign of Wathik was disturbed solely by doctrinal disputes. Great indeed must have been the diversity of opinion in religious matters, since there are to be counted no less than sixty-three principal sects among the Arabs. Wathik having brought the light of his reason to bear on the dogma of the eternity of the Koran, sustained with great heat by Akhmed ben Nasr, was at one time on the point of being dethroned and supplanted by his rude antagonist. Although treated with severity by prejudiced historians, Wathik was an excellent prince, who governed his realm with such wisdom and benevolence that it soon came to contain no beggars, and he died with the resignation of a firm, enlightened character.
The reigns of the earlier Abbasids are marked by a complete absence of expeditions undertaken with a view to aggrandisement, the wars with neighbouring populations being carried on without any thought of invasion. The Greeks offered the Arabs of the Orient more frequent pretexts for dispute than other nations, and the frontier line which separated them became the scene of many sanguinary conflicts. The vanity of the degenerate Greeks who constituted the population there, was inordinately flattered by success even in border-warfare, and they continued their aggressions through the reigns of most of Abul Abbas’ successors.
[754-833 A.D.]