(Based on decorations in the Alhambra)
[819-879 A.D.]
The troubles which surrounded the caliphate in Baghdad wrought the most serious consequences throughout the empire. The governors of provinces, sole depositaries of power during the intervals of government, aspired to complete independence and sold their submission to each successive sovereign. The provinces themselves, regretting the riches that went from them to swell the disorders of the capital, encouraged the pretensions of their governors, until these latter finally succeeded in reducing the caliph to a purely nominal supremacy.
The dismemberment of Spain and Africa had been the first blow struck at the unity of the Moslem states; when the Abbasid caliphs had invested the Aghlabites with the government, they had not regarded it as an act of final abdication on their own part. In Asia the work of disintegration had gone on more slowly. The Tahirites, whom Al-Mamun had established in Khorasan by giving full control of that province to his general Tahir, maintained amicable relations with the caliphs until their realm in turn became torn by dissensions, and they were finally overthrown by the power of the Saffarids. Yakub, the leader of this family of Saffarids, wished to push his victories further, and advanced to the attack of Baghdad (874). Muwaffak, who was in command of the city, met and defeated him at Wasit, but did not feel sufficiently strong to follow up his advantage by pursuit. Yakub retired to his own dominions, and having by the following year regained all his losses, would shortly have visited the caliph with complete destruction, had not his life been suddenly cut short (879).
[819-913 A.D.]
The establishment of the dynasty of the Saffarids in Khorasan, Sistan, and Tabaristan cut off all communication between the centre of the empire, Khwarizm, and the Mawarannahar, and Ismail, the governor of those provinces, declared his independence in full assurance of impunity. In 819 the sons of Asad ben Saman had obtained from Al-Mamun the command of Samarcand, Ferghana, and Balkh respectively; one of them, Akhmed, transmitted his power to his eldest son Nasr, who, by taking possession of Bokhara, became later sovereign over all Transoxiana. Suspecting his brother Ismail of complicity with the Turks and Saffarids, against whom he was obliged vigorously to defend his province, Nasr pursued him with an armed force (888), but was himself taken prisoner. On this occasion, Ismail revealed the magnanimity of his character; he caused all the deference due his rank to be paid to his brother, and up to the time of the latter’s death in 892 saw that his authority was respected. When he was at last free to act as sovereign, Ismail forced the Turks to retreat beyond the Jaxartes, and laid a solid foundation for the Samanid dynasty.
Other principalities were springing into power in the remaining parts of western Asia. The city of Bassora was seized by an adventurer who successfully resisted all attacks during the reigns of Mutazz and Mutamid, and nearly the whole of Arabian Irak was under the dominion of the Zengians. To Muwaffak is due the glory of retaking these provinces—and Bassora likewise in 882. He was not so successful in his enterprise against the Tulunids, who detached Egypt and Syria from the Arabian empire. Akhmed ben Tulun, one of the Turks educated at the court of the caliph, had distinguished himself by ability and courage, and was considered worthy of the post of governor of Egypt and Syria. Once established in these provinces he had no difficulty in maintaining his authority, supported as he was by the whole force of the Turkish militia; and he resolved to declare himself independent. In 877 he claimed the right of collecting taxes, thus openly cutting himself off from the caliphs, who, knowing their own weakness, incited the emirs of Syria to revolt against the Tulunids. Akhmed overcame all these difficulties, and when he died, in 884, left behind him a consolidated power. His son Khumaraweih succeeded him, and quelled the opposition of the few hostile parties that remained.
The rule of the Tulunids was on the whole advantageous to Egypt and Syria. Akhmed loved science and was withal liberal-minded, generous, and charitable. At Fostat, the capital of Egypt, he caused a superb mosque to be erected, which is known to-day as the mosque of Tulun, and also built palaces and laid out market-places for the accommodation of the traders of different nations who flocked to Egypt at that time. Khumaraweih was distinguished for his luxury and magnificence; he was said to have built an immense menagerie, in which the animals were lodged in splendid cages, having water brought to them in bronze canals. The bed in which he slept was said to be gently rocked and supported by a tiny lake of quicksilver, on which it rested. His death was by assassination, and with him perished the splendour of the Tulunids.
[908-946 A.D.]
No new dismemberments occurring during the reigns of Mutadid (892-902), Muktafi (902-908), and the first part of the reign of Muktadir (908-913), it might have been thought that the caliphs would retain the extensive empire that remained to them. Indeed, many circumstances arose which materially increased their power. Shortly after his accession to the throne Mutadid received tribute from Khumaraweih, and subsequently repulsed the tribes of Arabs and Kurds who had swarmed out of the Syrian deserts with the intention of overpowering Mosul. Muktafi was even more successful; he attacked Harun by sea and land and immediately received the submission of all the emirs. In Egypt the descendants of Tulun were deserted by the very supporters whom they had formerly laden with benefits. About this time the Saffarids likewise disappeared, overthrown by the Samanids, against whom they had been pitted by the artful policy of the caliphs. In addition to their newly-gained province of Khorasan the Samanids were given the investiture of Tabaristan and Sidjistan, Muktafi thus replacing two rival princes in his immediate neighbourhood by a single ruler whom the Turks did not allow to become dangerous. Muktafi’s successor, Muktadir Billah (908-932), did not succeed, as Muktafi had done, in keeping his dominions intact. Powerless in his own capital, he was little respected outside, and on all sides arose disturbances that his predecessors had temporarily kept down. After Muktadir, Kahir (932-934), Radhi (934-940), Muttaki (940-944), and Mustakfi (944-946) lost their few remaining provinces, and the temporal power of the caliphs in Baghdad was forever at an end.