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ABBOTT 1946 - Two Queens of Baghdad
ABBOTT 1946 - Two Queens of Baghdad
By N A B I A A B B O T T
ti
Vita
0CCO'
cniia latur
TOMB OF ZUBAIDAH
The University of Chicago Press • Chicago 37
Agent: Cambridge University Press • London
PART I . KHAIZURAN
III. HUMILIATION 77
PART I I . ZUBAIDAH
INDEX
INDEX 267
ix
,25 30 40 45 50 55 60
B L A C K S E A
JURJAN
TABRIZ
TARSUS ©
7us# \ Vv-SARAWS
ALEPPO MAUSIL»
( RAOOAH
OHULWAN NIHAVANO
JOAMASCUS O NAHRAWAN
?BAGHDAD
FAM AL-SILH^—
JERUSALEM ^WASIT
BASRAH*
FAID
MEDINA* o RIYAD
30 35 40 59
(Lugduni Batavorum, 1867), pp. 16, 81; cf. Theodor Noldeke, Sketches from
Eastern History, trans. John Southerland (London, 1892), pp. 107-45.
3 Muqaddasi, Ahsan al-Taqasim ("Bibliothica geographorum Arabicorum
[BGA]" Vol. Ill [Leiden, 1906]), p. 121; TabarT, III, 326; Ibn Tiqtiqa, Al-
Fakhrty ed. Derenbourg (Paris, 1895), P- 22°«
3 For the topography, building, and growth of Baghdad see Abu Bakr al-
Khatlb, Ta~>rlkh Baghdad (14 vols.; Cairo and Baghdad, 1931), Vol. I, and
the part of this volume translated by Georges Salmon, UIntroduction topo-
graphique Vhistoire de Bagdadh (Paris, 1904); Guy Le Strange, Baghdad dur
ing the Abbasid Caliphate (Oxford, 1900); Reuben Levy, A Baghdad Chronicle
(Cambridge, 1929); K. A. C. Creswell, Early Muslim Architecture (2 vols.;
Oxford, 1932 and 1940), II, 1-38.
INTRODUCTION 3
great expenditures and vast accumulations. It was for
him that Mansur bought the succession, at no small
figure, from a reluctant but threatened and outwitted
cousin. He spared neither pains nor treasure in estab
lishing the prestige of his chosen heir. To accommodate
the prince and his large military retinue, Mansur or
dered the construction of Rusafah, known also as Mah-
dl's Camp. This royal suburb, complete to palace, gar
den, and barracks, rose on the eastern bank of the Tigris
across from the Round City itself. Finally, Mansur left
Mahdl an enormous legacy.4 "Look to this City (Bagh
dad)," said Mansur to his son in his last instructions,
"and beware of exchanging it (for another capital). I
have accumulated in it for you so large a sum that if
the land revenue should fail you for ten years, you will
still have enough for the pay of the army, the civil ex
penditures, the family allotments, and the weal of the
border. Watch over it; for as long as your treasury is
sound and full you will continue to be mighty. But," he
added, "I do not think you will do (as I say)."5
Mansur's keen prediction proved right. For Mahdl,
in the ten-year reign (158-69/775-85) that was allotted
him, came to neglect the Round City of Mansur for his
own suburb of Rusafah. His father's well-considered
disbursements he replaced with lavish expenditure. The
contents of the overflowing treasury of the "Father of
* Tabari, III, 345, 347,352,364; Mascudl, Muruj al-Dhahab (Les Prairies
cTor)y ed. C. Barbier de Meynard (9 vols.; Paris, 1861-77), VI, 222; cf. his
Kitab al-Tanbih wa al-Ashraf (B*GA, Vol. VIII [Leiden, 1893]), P* 342; Ibn
Khallikan, Wajayat al-cAyan ("Biographical Dictionary"), ed. and trans.
W. M. de Slane (4 vols.; Cairo, 1925-30), IV, 353; Fakhrt, p. 235.
s Tabari, III, 444; cf. ibid., p. 404.
TWO QUEENS OF BAGHDAD
Farthings" soon flowed back into the wide channels of
empire. But it was largely Mahdl's personal tempera
ment together with the expansive spirit of the times
that opened up several avenues of liberal spending that
verged on prodigality. One such outlet centered round
Mahdi's social and family life. The economically admin
istered court of Mansur, where levity dared not raise its
head, yielded to sumptuous living. While theologians,
scholars, and serious-minded poets provided intellectual
stimulation, Ovidian bards, court jesters, musicians,
and singing girls catered to the emotions. All were roy
ally rewarded. There was next the demand of the royal
harem itself, with its multiple wives and numerous con
cubines who vied among themselves and strove to match
the scale set them by the royal master.
Mahdl himself was incapable of saving for a near fu
ture that promised to grow evermore prosperous. The
promise was fulfilled in the reigns of his son, Musa al-
Hadi, "Moses the Guide" (169-70/785-86), and Harun
al-Rashid, "Aaron the Rightly Guided" (170-93/786-
809). Harun, despite a reign of magnificent display and
spectacular liberality, is said to have left his heirs a leg
acy of over 900,000,000 dirhams, or 48,000,000 dinars,
believed, in either case, to be the greatest sum left by an
c Abbasid caliph. 6 It was in this literally golden age that
Abbasid Caliphate (7 vols.; Oxford, 1920-21), I, 238; IV, 268; cf. Mascudl,
Tanbth (BGJy Vol. VIII), p. 342; Thacalibl, LatcPij al-Macarif, pp. 71-72;
Ibn Khallikan, IV, 353; SuyutI, Ta^rikh al-KhulafcP (Cairo, 1305/1888), p.
116. See below, pp. 36-37, for the rate of exchange. The sums mentioned
vary somewhat.
INTRODUCTION 5
Mahdi's Khaizuran and Harun's Zubaidah held lavish
court at Baghdad.
It was not only in matters of finance that Mansur
prepared the way for his heir. He himself acted as Mah
di's mentor and preceptor and surrounded him with
men of administrative ability and strength of character.
Among his several parting precepts to his son was the
following: "Put not off the work of today until tomor
row; attend in person to the affairs of state; and sleep
not (at your post) even as your father has not slept since
he came to the caliphate, for, when sleep closed his eyes,
his spirit remained awake."7 Nevertheless, this fond
father was not blind to the weak points—serious de
fects these from the parent's point of view—of his son's
character, namely, liberality, sociability, and a fondness
for the fair sex. Perhaps he hoped that the type of men
he associated with Mahdl would restrain him as caliph.
Chief among these were the Barmakid (Barmecide)
governor, Yahya ibn Khalid, and Mahdi's secretary,
Abu cUbaid Allah ibn Yassar.
Coming on the political scene with the cAbbasids was
the Persian family of Khalid ibn Barmak, destined to
play a significant role in the administrative and cultural
evolution of the early cAbbasid Empire. The able and
industrious Khalid rose rapidly to power. He and his
son Yahya rendered Mansur strategic service, the father
in the financial administration of the empire and the son
with Prince Mahdl in Khurasan. In Abu cUbaid Allah,
Mahdl had a faithful and serious-minded minister who
i Tabari, III, 448.
6 TWO QUEENS OF BAGHDAD
had won Mansur's approval and kept an eye on Mahdl's
companions and expenditures. In his next wazir, Ya c qub
ibn Da 3 ud, Mahdi found not only an able servant but
also a congenial spirit who flattered the inclinations of
the caliph and succeeded in obtaining for himself the en
tire administration of state. Mahdi, therefore, threw
overboard his father's parting instructions to attend to
the affairs of state in person. The blind poet, Bashshar
ibn Burd, partly out of personal grievance and partly
out of public indignation, wrote a scathing verse that
not only denounced the caliph and his wazir but had
public and dynastic implications. "O sons of Umayyah,"
cried this poet, "wake up! Too long have you been
asleep. Verily, Ya c qub ibn Da 3 ud is the caliph. O people,
your caliphate is ruined! Look for the caliph betwixt the
wineskin and the lute." 8
The early cAbbasids were patrons of learning and cul
ture according to their light. This light grew progres
sively powerful until it shone with dazzling brilliance
in the reign of Ma'mun, the last caliph of our story.
Keen rivalry existed among the different provinces of
the empire for intellectual leadership and recognition.
c Iraq, already in the lead in late Umayyad times and
vorum, 1883), II, 369; Tabarl, III, 88, 2499; Ibn cAbd Rabbihi, cIqd al-Farid
(3 vols.; Cairo, 1293/1876), II, 352; Khatib, I, 63-64; Ibn Khallikan, II,
103, 109.
12 Mas c udl, Mu.ru}, VI, 110-12; Ibn c Abdus, p. 91; Tabarl, II, 840; Aghant,
1879-1901), III, 526; Ibn Shakir al-Kutubl, Fawat al-Wafayat (2 vols.; Bu
laq, 1283/1866), II, 280; Ibn cAbd Rabbihi, cIqd al-Farid (3 vols.; Cairo,
1293/1876), III, 53; Abu al-Faraj al-Isbahanl, Kitab al-Aghani (20 vols.;
Bulaq, 1285/1868 [Vol. XXI (Leiden, 1888)]), IX, 49, makes her Mansur's
concubine, which must be an error.
3 Ibn Qutaibah, Kitab al-Macarif, ed. Wustenfeld (Gottingen, 1850), p.
shar died before the fall of the wazir Yacqub ibn DjPud, which, according to
Tabarl, III, 506, took place in 166, this last date is to be preferred to 167 or
168 in considering the death of either the girl or the poet.
42KhatIb, VII, 118; Tabarl, III, 543 -44; Ibn Athlr, VI, 58 (where the
and 157.
TWO QUEENS OF BAGHDAD
child, sent her to the famous school of Ta^f in the
Hijaz for a thorough musical education. Years later
Mahdl, then caliph, chanced to see the now grown-up
and accomplished maid in Muhayyat's quarters and
took a fancy to her, whereupon Muhayyat graciously
presented her to him. She gave Mahdl his powerful and
dark-skinned son Ibrahim (162-224/779-839), who in
herited his mother's musical talents and who, as poet,
scholar, musician, and countercaliph, will figure re
peatedly in this story.46
Khaizuran's harem worries do not seem to have arisen
in connection with any of these earlier copartners with
her in Mahdl's affection, including even the royal wife
Raitah, as already seen. Her real source of danger was
the ever present singing girl, for Mahdl was an en
thusiastic patron of music and musicians. Himself
gifted with a fine voice,47 he soon drew to his court the
best musical talents of the empire and inaugurated, alas
for the shades of Mansur and the spirits of the pietists,
the Golden Age of Arabian music. To his court came
Ibrahim al-Mausili, a Persian domiciled in Mausil. He
was destined, by reason of his musical and social talents,
to become in time Harun's boon companion par excel
lence and sharer, like Zubaidah, of his legendary
Arabian Nights' fame. His professional fame was to be
eclipsed only by that of his son, Ishaq (150-235/767-
4 6 TabarI, III, 140, 917; Ibn Khallikan, I, 16-20. Aghani, IX, 48-49,
speaks of Mufcayyat as Mansur's concubine, but cf. cIqd> III, 53-
and even the character of the girl; the assumption, therefore, may prove a
MISTRESS OF THE HAREM 37
Two more songstresses joined Mahdl's harem, Hullah
and Hasanah, both of whom are described as beautiful
and expert at their profession. Hasanah was, like Mak-
nunah, to give Khaizuran some uneasy moments. She
and Khaizuran are sometimes grouped together as the
most favored of Mahdl, who on occasion was torn be
tween his affections for both of them.52 Mahdl shows this
same tendency to be swayed by two loves on yet an
other occasion involving a second pair of concubines,
Hasna and Malkah. Hasna entered the room first but
was soon followed by Malkah. Mahdl called on the girls
themselves to decide with which one of them he was to
spend the afternoon's siesta. Hasna replied with this
QurDanic verse: "Those who go before, they are those
brought near." And Malkah, not to be outdone, offered:
"The last is for thee better than the first."53 The record
loses interest in Mahdl's dilemma and goes on instead
to cite the poets on the theme of being torn between
two loves.54 Whether the Hasna of this pair is confused
with Hasanah of the Khaizuran episode cannot be de
termined with certainty. It is probable that Hasanah
entered Mahdl's life comparatively late. She outlived
fact (see preceding note and Farmer, op. cit., p. 132). A gold dinar in Mansur's
time equaled seven silver dirhams (Qall, Kitab al-Amali [Bulaq, 1324/1906],
III [DhailI, 41). The ratio fluctuated, generally increasing, so that in Ma3-
mun's time a dinar equaled fifteen dirhams (Zaidan, TaPrikh al-Tamaddun al-
Islami [5 vols.; Cairo, 1922], II, 53, 57).
S3CIqd III, 53; Husrl, III, 226-27; Raghib al-Isbahanl, Kitab Muhaiarat
y
al-Udaba? wa Muhawarat al-Shu^riP wa al-Bulagha3 (2 vols.; Cairo, 1287/
1870), II, 39-
53 Surahs 56:10 and 93: 4 .
^ Raghib, Muhawarat, II, 29.
38 TWO QUEENS OF BAGHDAD
Mahdi, in whose death, according to some versions, she
was unintentionally but tragically involved.55
Raifah, as already stated, was Mahdi's only legal
wife until he became caliph. Soon after that event he
proceeded to take his full quota of four legal wives. His
intentions seem to have been to liberate Khaizuran and
make her his second legal wife, a position that would be
more in keeping with his plans for the succession. For
Mahdi was taking steps, soon after his accession, to
secure the succession for Khaizuran's two sons, Musa
and Harun.56 The early annals relate under the year
1 59/775-76 the brief and factual statement that in this
trans. John Southerland (London, 1892), p. 123, cannot bring himself to be
lieve this gruesome story; but cf. Zaidan, Ta?rikh al-Tamaddun al-Islamt>
IV, 89-91; and below, p. 219.
62 Tabari, III, 449-51; Ibn Athlr, VI, 60.
MISTRESS OF THE HAREM 4i
even for a slave girl, to sit at the feet of some of the day's
most learned or prominent theologians. Once in the
palace, there was plenty of leisure to improve one's mind,
if one had a mind to do so. Many were the opportunities
to familiarize one's self with poetry and the literature of
the day. In Khaizuran's particular case, she came to
acquire a reputation for learning and literary talents.
She is said, for instance, to have learned Tradition from
Awzaci (d. 157/744), a noncompromising theologian.63
However, she is associated with but two traditions. The
one has specific bearing on the political situation at the
time of Harun's accession and will be referred to later.
The other was a harmless enough one that she learned
from Mahdi himself: 4'He who fears Allah, Allah will
watch over him in all things."64
Evidence of her literary talent is just as scanty. So
far, but one very ordinary verse has been attributed to
her in two versions and on different occasions. According
to the earlier of the two versions, Khaizuran sent a vir
gin maid bearing a cup inscribed with a verse by her as
a gift to her son Harun al-Rashld, who was just re
covering from some indisposition.65 The sentiment of
the verse is: "Get well soon and enjoy drinking out of
the cup." The second and later version is a different
story. It is Mahdi who has been indisposed. Khaizuran
sends him a crystal cup with a drink of her own choosing
63 Xabarl, III, 579; Ibn Athir, VI, 67; for Al-Awza 0 ! cf. Tabari, III, 2514,
2519; Khatlb, VIII, 227; IX, 158-59; Nawawl, Kitab Tahdhlb al Asma
("Biographical Dictionary"), ed. Wiistenfeld (Gottingen, 1842-47), pp. 382-
84; Ibn Khallikan, II, 84.
6* Khatib, XIV, 430-32, is the brief entry given to Khaizuran.
65 Raghib, Muha<}araty I, 261.
4i TWO QUEENS OF BAGHDAD
by the hand of a virgin maid of exceeding beauty. The
verse on the cup starts out with the same line as in the
first version but ends: "When you have recovered your
health and have improved it further by this drink from
this cup, then be gracious to her who sent it, by paying
her a visit after sunset." Mahdi, runs this account, was
so delighted with gift and poem that he called on his
lady and spent two whole days in her company.66
Granted either or both versions, this verse is still very
slim evidence of any poetic talent. Others of Mahdl's
concubines were ready with song and poem as the oc
casion demanded. Poetry was on everyone's tongue.
Khaizuran, in all probability, was more adept at quot
ing than at composing verses. Mahdl, on the other
hand, was adept at both, to judge by a number of his
verses, some of which were addressed to Khaizuran
herself. While he was away at a pleasure resort, Mahdi
longed for his favorite's company, and so he wrote her
an elegant verse that started, "We are in great joy, but
no joy is complete without you," and ended, "Then
hasten, nay, if you are able, fly, to us with the zephyr."67
There are sufficient indications that Khaizuran's pro
nounced gifts were in fields other than those of learning
and literature. They lay rather in the realm of person
ality and character, not that her gifts along these lines
were unique, single or in combination, but that they
fitted well at most points into the pattern of Mahdi's
66 Al-Ibshlhl, AI-Mustapraf (2 vols, in 1; Cairo, 1305/1890), II, 49.
67 Fawat al-Wafayaty II, 281; cf. Jafriz, Al-Bayan wa al-Tabyin (3 vols, in
1931), pp. 25-26, relates another incident, perhaps only a later and more
embellished version of this story itself.
73 Agharii) IX, 120-40; Khatlb, I, 87; VIII, 488-93; Ibn Khallikan, I,
543-39; Afrmad Farid Rifa0!, cA$r al-McPmun (Cairo, 1927), II, 300 ff.
MISTRESS OF THE HAREM
casion the jester comes out the richer for his buffoonery.74
The practical joke that this jester, with the aid of his
wife, Umm Dulamah, played on the royal pair took the
following form. Abu Dulamah went sorrowful and weep
ing before Mahdl and informed him that Umm Du
lamah was dead and that he had not the wherewithal to
outfit and bury her. Mahdl was touched and made him
a generous gift of clothes, ointments, and money. In the
meantime Umm Dulamah, far from being dead, was
herself bewailing the death of Abu Dulamah to Khai
zuran, who, no less touched than Mahdl, gave her also
a generous gift. When later Mahdl and Khaizuran were
together, each told the story as they believed it and
soon realized that it was another of Abu Dulamah's
tricks which, nevertheless, they enjoyed heartily.75 Abu
Dulamah, on another occasion, made one and the same
request from both Raitah and Khaizuran, namely, that
they give him one of their slave girls to amuse him, since
he was through with the old hag who was his wife. The
royal ladies, who were at the time on a pilgrimage,
promised to grant his request, but either forgot or de
layed the gift on their return. He, therefore, addressed
an identical verse to each by way of a reminder and
presently received his girls.76
Several of the first-class poets of Mahdi's court con
tributed quite a bit of amusement for Mahdl's harem.
74 E.gAghani, VIII, 107; IX, 133-34; Ibn al-Jauzi, Akhbar al-Zurraf
y
PP- 73-74; Ibn Hijjah, II, 227-28, 235-36.
75 Aghanty IX, 131; Raghib, Muhatfarat, I, 339-40. This story appears in
(1931), 632; for the original Arabic cf. Ibn al-Muctazz, Tabaqat al-Shu^ara3
al-Muhadathin, ed. A. Eghbal ("Gibb Memorial Series," Vol. XIII [1939]),
p. 105; Ibn Khallikan (Cairo, 1310/1892-93), 1,71, and De Slane's translation,
I, 203, for a brief prose rendering.
8* Aghanl, III, 74-75; cf. Husrl, I, 293-94.
52 TWO QUEENS OF BAGHDAD
the attack. And Mahdl, it seems, had a mind this time
to grant the poet's request, but cUtbah, no longer hiding
behind her mistress' wishes, spoke her mind. "Com
mander of the Believers, treat me as becomes a woman
and a member of your household. Would you then give
me over to an ugly man who sells jars and seeks to
profit by his verse?" The caliph was thus prevailed upon
to spare cUtbah this fate. Nevertheless, Abu al-cAtahi-
yah continued to sing her praises. She complained this
time to Khaizuran, with whom Mahdl found her in tears.
The poet was called in and confronted with some of his
audacious verses and, for once, was unable to extricate
himself. The lover-poet was then flogged for his per
sistence, but, meeting cUtbah on the way, he pointed to
the plight she had brought him and so sent her weeping
again to Khaizuran. Mahdl repented his deed and sent
the poet fifty thousand dirhams, which he immediately
distributed to those at the royal gate. Mahdl took him
to task for this, and he answered, "I wish not to con
sume the price of my beloved"; so Mahdl gave him an
other fifty thousand and forbade him, this time, to give
it away.86 Yet, even flogging did not cure him. He con
tinued to make verses on cUtbah, for which he was pres
ently exiled. But he could not keep away and returned
though only to be imprisoned. His friends, however,
pleaded for and secured his release.87
The experiences of Bashshar and Abu al-cAtahiyah at
the hands of Mahdl for their verses on members of that
caliph's harem were not the kind to invite imitation. It
is, therefore, not surprising to find that other poets left
86 Masu^I, VI, 241-43; Aghartiy XIX, 153; but cf. HusrT, I, 297.
87 Husrl, I, 295-96; Aghaniy III, 145, 151; V, 6.
MISTRESS OF THE HAREM 53
the royal harem, including Khaizuran, alone unless it
was to pronounce some innocent couplet, now and
again, in reference to her favored children. One such
verse states that there are none, among the sons of all
the caliphs, like the sons of Khaizuran.88 When her
young daughter, Banuqah, died, one of the poets in his
verse of condolence referred to the child as having
been the joy of both Mahdl and Khaizuran.89 Yet an
other verse, quoted quite frequently by the sources, is
one that congratulates Khaizuran on the occasion of the
nomination of Harun as heir, which event made her the
mother of two prospective caliphs. It comes, it seems,
from the court poet, Marwan ibn Abi Hafsah. "O
Khaizuran, rejoice thee, and again rejoice; for thy two
sons have come to rule the people."90 Yet, even this
verse was frowned upon by Musa al-Hadi, who advised
a reciter to hold his tongue and not mention his mother's
name for good or for evil.91 Khaizuran herself does not
seem to have courted publicity through the poets.
Interesting and significant as was Khaizuran's role in
Mahdi's harem, it was not for this alone that she won a
lasting place in Islamic history. It was, rather, the direc
tion she gave to the political course of the cAbbasid Em
pire, chiefly through her energetic intrigues in the suc
cession of her sons, that brought her a more or less
sinister fame. It is, therefore, to this wider phase of her
activities that the reader's attention is next called.
88 Khatib, XIV, 430.
89 Aghanty XXI, 120.
9°TabarI, III, 591-92; Mascudi, VI, 269; SuyutI, Ta?rlkhy p. 111, and
H. S. Jarrett's translation (Calcutta, 1881), p. 291.
91 Tabarl, 591-92.
^ 1 1
her power, while Mascudi and Ibn Khaldun first mention it in connection
with the events of Hadl's reign.
* Ibn cAbdus, p. 175; cf. below, pp. 63 and 198.
56 TWO QUEENS OF BAGHDAD
between politics and the administration of justice had
already, in the days of Mansur, become the bane of
honest men and judges. The famous jurisconsult, Abu
Hanifah, had begged to be excused from serving as judge
in Baghdad but was pressed into service. His subsequent
strike, imprisonment, and speedy death must have
helped to put refusal to serve out of the minds of other
candidates.4 Sharlk ibn cAbd Allah, judge of Kufah in
both Mansur's and Mahdi's reigns, claimed that he so
served under compulsion. Skeptics, watching him wait
ing on Khaizuran as she was on her way back from the
pilgrimage, probably in 158, scoffed in verse at this
"compulsion.,,s Yet the following story is told of how
Sharik came to serve MahdI.
Sharlk came into Mahdl's presence one day, and that
caliph offered him one of three choices: to serve him as
judge, to instruct his children, or to partake of a meal
with him. Sharik held his peace as he thought it over.
Did he fear a poisoned morsel? One wonders! When he
spoke at last, he chose the meal. Then MahdI himself
directed the chef to prepare him a dish of varied brains
mixed in sugar and honey. The chef was somewhat
alarmed, for he remarked that the old man—Sharik was
in his early sixties—would be forever undone after such
a meal. Sharik ate the prepared dish and thereafter
consented to be both tutor for the princes and judge for
their father. He was then put on the public pay roll, but
the unhappy man felt he had failed the faith.6
« Tabarl, III, 371, 458, 465, 469, 484, 501, 503; Ibn Khallikan, I, 622-23.
5 Khatlb, IX, 285; Yaqut, Geog.> III, 246.
6 Mascudl, VI, 226-27; Ibn Khallikan, I, 622-23; SuyutI, Ta?rikh> p. 108.
POWER BEHIND THE THRONE 57
28; Ibn Khallikan, I, 524-25; Ibn al-jauzl, Akhbar, pp. 73~74; All ibn Zafir
al-Azdl, Bada?ic al-BidiPah (Cairo, 1278/1861), pp. 186-87; Khatib, VIII,
491 -92.
4° Jabarl, III, 523-24; Ibn Athir, VI, 54; Ya c qubT, III, 484; Ibn Khaldun,
III, 214.
Tabarl, III, 524; Ibn Athir, VI, 54.
74 TWO QUEENS OF BAGHDAD
this story names the concubine and details the tale. The
envious and murderous concubine turns out to be
Hasanah, met with earlier in these pages. She plucked
out the stem of a pear carefully, inserted the poison,
and replaced the stem. Then she placed the polished,
tempting fruit uppermost in the dish and sent it on its
death-dealing way. Mahdl, sitting in a tower of the
palace at Masabadhan, saw Hasanah's maid pass below
with her attractive tray of fruit. Since pears happened
to be a special favorite with him, he called to the girl,
reached out for the best fruit, which was the poisoned
pear, and ate it. No sooner had he finished eating, than
he cried out with pain. Hasanah, awaiting other re
sults, heard the anguished cry and was soon informed of
what had taken place. She came weeping and beating
her face and crying out in her emotional despair, "I
desired you for myself alone, and now I have killed you,
O my master !" 42
Still another story that involves Hasanah and this ill-
conceived and ill-fated expedition runs as follows. When
Mahdl prepared to depart to Masabadhan, he desired
his favorite concubine, Hasanah, to accompany him.
She sent this word to Mahdi's chief of court astrologers:
"You advised this expedition for the Commander of the
Believers and have thus burdened us with a journey we
have not taken into account. May Allah hasten your
death and rid us of you!" The maid brought back this in
answer: "I did not advise this expedition. As for your
curse, God had already decreed my speedy death. So
make not the mistake of thinking it an answer to your
4 *TabarI, III, 524; Ibn Athir, VI, 54-55.
POWER BEHIND THE THRONE 75
curse. Rather, prepare for yourself plenty of dust and,
when I die, place the dust on your own head." His cryp
tic message became clear to her when Mahdi's death
followed that of the court astrologer by twenty days.43
Astrologer or no, Mahdl himself, insist the records,
got advance notice of his final call. While in Masaba-
dhan, the caliph woke up one early morning hungry and
called for food. Having eaten, he entered a courtyard to
resume his sleep and gave orders not to be disturbed.
Presently, his companions were awakened by his loud
crying. They hastened to him, and he asked, "Did you
not see what I saw?"
"We did not see anything," they said.
"There stood at the gate a man," said the caliph,
"whom I would not fail to know were he one among a
thousand, nay, among a hundred thousand men." He pro
ceeded to recite verses that left no doubt in his hearer's
minds but that he believed he had seen the angel of
death at the gate. Ten days later he was dead.44
Cryptic pronouncements, troubled dreams, poisoned
dainties, and the accidents of the chase—all tell a
tangled tale that still remains to be disentangled.
Mystery and suspicion still hang around the death of
Mahdi, who was laid to his final rest in the far-off village
of Radhdh, hastily buried under the shade of a walnut
tree.45 Prince Harun, son of Khaizuran, and Prince CA1I,
44 Tabari, III, 525-26; Ibn Athir, VI, 54; Yacqubi, II, 484-85; MascudT,
VI, 258-59.
4s Tabari, III, 526; Yaqut, George IV, 393.
76 TWO QUEENS OF BAGHDAD
son of Raitah, performed the last services for their de
parted father.
Nowhere is there any record of how their royal moth
ers received the news of the death of their joint husband.
But it is on record that Mahdi's concubines, and par
ticularly Hasanah, mourned him greatly. As the car
riages of the returning harem, all in deep mourning,
reached Baghdad, the poet Abu al- c Atahiyah was moved
to spontaneous verse. His lines began by contrasting the
women departing in brocades and returning in sack
cloth, dwelt on the transitoriness of life for one and all,
and ended with the advice to weep for one's own destiny
if one must weep at all.46
Mahdi's death ended one period of Khaizuran's life
at the same time that it ushered her into another. Be
hind her was youth, success, and happiness. Ahead of
her lay maturity, power, and tragedy. For death, having
arrived on the royal stage, decided to tarry a while
longer.
* 6 Tabarl, III, 525; Ya^ubl, II, 485; Mas c udi, VI, 225-26.
^ . 1 1 1 J*
flumiliation
HE period between the passing-away of one mon
arch and the accession of the next is, under the
best of conditions, a time of stress and strain in royal
household, kingdom, or empire. In the Islamic state it is
generally critical enough to warrant all precaution and
secrecy until the announcement, "The King is dead,"
can be followed immediately by "Long live the King!"
It is better still, if the new monarch is on hand to receive
in person the allegiance of court, army, and people.
The death of a caliph away from his capital calls for
quick and astute action on the part of the empire's
statesmen, if transition from one reign to the other is
to be accomplished peacefully. When harem intrigue
and rival claimants are also on the burdened scene, the
transition period may mean the signal for swift death
for one or more royal prince, riot in the streets of the
capital, or open revolt there and in the distant parts of
the empire.
When Mansur died on the Pilgrim Road, the cham
berlain Rablc ibn Yunus kept the caliph's death secret
until Mahdi at Baghdad could take the situation well
77
78 TWO QUEENS OF BAGHDAD
in hand. Now, once more, it fell to Rablc, this time him
self at Baghdad, to hold together the reins of empire in
a situation that was even more dangerous. For as
Mahdl made his unexpected exit off the crowded stage,
he left behind him rival heirs and ambitious widow to
continue with a play that had already run its first act
of tragedy.
There were, in fact, three complicated scenes over
lapping in time though far distant in space. At Masa-
badhan, Harun fell back on the experienced and trusted
Yahya the Barmakid, who, now that Mahdl was gone
without having altered the succession, advised his
young charge to abide by the succession as it stood and
allow Had! to ascend the throne. That determined upon,
Harun was to send, with utmost speed, the news of
Mahdi's death, together with the insignia of the cali
phate and the assurance of his own allegiance, to his
brother Had!, who was then farther east in Jurjan. The
army that had started out with Mahdl was to receive
some cash payment and return home to Baghdad.
Harun and Yahya, too, were to return to the capital
as fast as possible.1
As the capital received the news of the caliph's death,
riots broke out in the city. Khaizuran sent for both
Rabic and Yahya. Rablc answered her summons and
was placed by her in control. But Yahya kept aloof,
fearing Hadi's displeasure, should he, Yahya, appear to
be working with Kaizuran. For Had! suspected her as
being behind the plot to replace him by her favorite
1 Tabari, III, 544-46; Ibn Athir, VI, 58-59; Mascudl, VI, 261; Thacalibl,
By no single act of all his brilliant career did Harun better vindi
cate his worthiness of the imperial sceptre than by thus renouncing
it in the interests of civil peace. The army was his for the command
ing, and he disbanded it. His elder brother was at his mercy, and he
placed him on the throne. His mother sought to thrust greatness on
him, but he preferred to abide by the verdict of Fate. Of few can it
be said so truly that he was born great. 4
PP- 30-31.
HUMILIATION 83
That is, Harun and his counselor, Yahya, were not the
rogues that the first account would make them, nor
was Harun the unselfish noble soul that the second ac
count paints. Yahya's political sagacity is unques
tioned. His policy and advice need no ulterior motives
for their explanation. Harun's acceptance of them was
due partly to his own reluctance to assume responsibil
ity and partly to the force of habit of yielding to Yahya's
leadership for a decade and more.
But to return to the set of questions that started this
line of thought. Viewing these in the light of events be
fore and after, it does not seem at all impossible that
the initial strain and stress of the reign being over, the
major characters involved all breathed a sigh of relief.
The probability is that they accepted the situation at
the time as it stood—as somewhat better than one and
all had had reason to expect. Had! had his throne and
Harun his heirship; Rabic and Yahya were both in
office; and even Khaizuran kept the power she had
feared to lose. All might have been smooth sailing for
the ship of state had Khaizuran, in the months that fol
lowed, tempered her love of power with either the pa
tient wisdom of Yahya or the happy indifference
credited to Harun. And again all might still have gone
well even after the break between mother and son, had
not Had! alarmed, not so much his brother, Harun, but
that brother's political mentor, Yahya, by the attempt
to replace Harun by his own young son, Jacfar, in line
as heir apparent.
In these few months before serious trouble began to
raise its head again, Had! settled down to his new role
84 TWO QUEENS OF BAGHDAD
as caliph. This role he filled with such great dignity in
public that even a foster-brother, though perfectly at
ease with him in private, trembled with awe at the
caliph's majesty. 5 He heard petitions in person, it would
seem, almost daily. 6 When once three days had passed
without this function, his minister intercepted him on a
visit to his mother, who was indisposed at the time, and
reminded him of his duty. Had! sent this word of excuse
to Khaizuran: " c Umar ibn Bazi c has reminded us of a
duty toward Allah which is more obligatory for us than
our duty toward you. So we turned to it. But we shall
visit you on the morrow, Allah willing." 7
Among those who thought that they had reason to
fear the vengeance of the new caliph was the captain
of police, c Abd Allah ibn Malik, one of whose duties had
been to flog those of Prince Hadl's companions who
had not met with Mahdl's approval. 8 HadI retained the
captain in his office, though later he took him to task
for his past. But the captain argued quite effectively
along these lines: "Now that you are the Commander
of the Believers yourself and I am your captain of
police, would you wish me to set aside your commands
in favor of those of your son?"
"No," said the sensible caliph.
"As I now serve you, so I served your father."
HadI was pleased and dismissed his good and
faithful servant with a gift. But the latter feared that
his enemies—especially those whom he had flogged, but
who were now in high office—would turn the caliph,
s Tabari, III, 586. ? Ibid., pp. 582-83; Ibn Athlr, VI, 70.
6 Ibid., 584. 8 Cf. above, p. 65.
HUMILIATION 85
while in his cups, against him. Had! sensed this fear.
He therefore made a personal visit to the captain's
house, broke bread with him there, made him a second
royal gift, and so dispelled all his anxiety. 9
All work and no play may have been Mansur's
motto. It was not that of his son or grandsons. HadI,
on his return to the capital, spent his first full night and
day in the company of his favorite concubine, receiving
no one in audience. 10 Soon after, he assembled his
former boon companions, and, in this, first Rabl c> s son
Fadl and then Yahya assisted him. The former planned
the return of the exiled musician, Ibn Jami c , as a pleas
ant surprise for the new caliph, while Yahya was specif
ically asked by Had! to help him locate Ibrahim al-
Mausill for him." The poets, too, always on hand, had
lost no time in singing the usual praises for a new
caliph. Among the readiest to sing his praises were the
talented spendthrift, Salm al-Khasir, 12 and the more
famous miser and poet, Marwan ibn Abl Hafsah. 13 The
former's policy was to have poems on hand for any
emergency, even to the point of preparing elegies for
those still much in the flesh. 14
Soon after his arrival at Baghdad, HadI had left the
capital city to take up his residence in the near-by
suburb of c Isabadh outside eastern Baghdad, where
9 Tabari, III, 458, 583; Ibn Athir, VI, 70-71; Fakkrt, pp. 258-59.
10 Tabari, III, 548.
11Aghanl, VI, 73; Tabari, III, 573; cf. above, p. 35.
13 Cf. Aghanl, XXI, 210-29; Rifa^, II, 349-53.
13 Aghanl, IX, 41, 47; XXI, 128; Tabari, III, 593-94.
14 Aghanly XXI, 121.
86 TWO QUEENS OF BAGHDAD
Khallikan, I, 525-26.
18 Tabari, III, 569; Ibn Athir, VI, 68.
19 Tabari, III, 569, 571; Ibn Athir, VI, 68; Mascudl, VI, 268-69; Fakhrt,
261; cf. above, p. 54.
20 Tabari, III, 569.
88 TWO QUEENS OF BAGHDAD
Khaizuran's favor, as is to be expected, was sought
after and exploited by some of the leading Hashimite
princesses, including the ranking Princess Zainab. These
frequently acted as intermediatory intercessors for a
cause which or for a person who needed to reach the
caliph's ear. A curious detail, preserved or interpolated,
is found in connection with an event that would seem
to have taken place after the break between mother and
son. In the cAlId rising that led to the Battle of Fakhkh
in the Hijaz some nine months after Hadi's accession,
the cAbbasid prince, Musa ibn cIsa, fighting in Hadl's
forces, put a key prisoner to death on his own initia
tive. Had!was displeased with Musa for this, but the lat
ter pleaded thus: "O Commander of the Believers, I gave
thought to his case, and said to myself, 'Aishah and
Zainab will come to the Mother of the Commander of
the Believers and weep before her and plead with her,
and she will then speak on his behalf with the Com
mander of the Believers, who will, therefore, set him
free.' "" Evidently Musa ibn cIsa, who had had an
earlier experience with Khaizuran, did not quite credit
the full break between mother and son and described
here the "normal" procedure of roundabout harem in
trigue with Khaizuran for a central figure.
Soon, however, Had! began to hedge, as is clear from
the following episode. One day while he was calling on
Khaizuran, she asked him to appoint her brother, who
was now also his father-in-law, governor of the Yaman.
Had! put her off with, "Remind me of it before my
cups." He went home, dined, and called for his drink.
31 Ibid., pp. 551, 556, 560.
HUMILIATION 89
Presently, Khaizuran sent him one of her maids to re
mind him of the request. "Return/' Had! ordered the
maid, "and say 'Choose for him either the divorce of his
daughter c Ubaidah or the governorship of the Yaman.' "
The maid understood no more of this than the words
"choose for him," and that alone was the message she
delivered to her mistress. Khaizuran returned word, "I
have already chosen for him the governorship of the
Yaman." So Had! divorced c Ubaidah on the instant by
simply repeating the divorce formula. Presently, he
heard loud cries from the harem and went to inquire
into their cause. Khaizuran tried to explain, but her
son insisted it was her own choice. "That was not the
message that was delivered to me," she informed him.
There followed a sequel the "humor" of which can be
understood to the full only by a Moslem society. HadI,
having rushed, as it turned out, prematurely, into
divorcing his wife, wanted company in his misery and
ordered every single one of his boon companions pres
ent to divorce a wife. This each did with a sword hang
ing over his head. 22 The sequel to this sequel is not re
corded, but the reader is free to use his imagination.
Insatiable sycophants began to crowd around Khai
zuran. These hoped to achieve their ends and ambitions
by imposing on her vanity and her seemingly unlimited
influence with Had!. Soon there was a line of retainers,
nobles, and generals that trailed its way to her gates to
flatter and to angle for patronage. HadI heard, saw,
and blustered. "Do not," he sent word to his mother,
"overstep the essential limits of womanly modesty and
22 Ibid., pp. 590-91; Aghani, XIII, 13.
TWO QUEENS OF BAGHDAD
overdo in person the role of the generous donor. It is
not dignified for women to enter upon affairs of state.
Take to your prayer and worship and devote yourself to
the service of Allah. Hereafter, submit to the womanly
role that is required of your sex."23 But Khaizuran
heeded not these warning signs of danger ahead and
rushed headlong into a major catastrophe.
It so happened that the storm burst in connection
with a request on behalf of the captain of police, cAbd
Allah ibn Malik, who, as already seen, had every reason
and intention to serve Hadi as faithfully as he had
served MahdI. What the favor was that Khaizuran
sought from Had! for cAbd Allah has escaped the record.
At any rate, Had! could not see his way to granting it
and so made excuses to his mother. These she ignored
as she persisted with, "You absolutely must grant my
request."
"I will not do it," said Had! stubbornly.
"But I have already assured cAbd Allah ibn Malik of
it," continued the equally stubborn but none too wise
Khaizuran.
The storm finally broke. "A plague upon the son of
the strumpet," shouted Hadi in his rage. "I know it is he
who is behind this; but, by Allah, I will not grant it to
you."
"Then, by Allah," flashed back Khaizuran, "I shall
never again ask anything of you."
Hot with rage, the son flung back defiantly, "And, by
Allah, I care not!"
Greatly angered, Khaizuran rose to depart.
^ T a b a r i , I I I , 569, 571.
HUMILIATION 91
"Stay where you are," roared out Had!, "and heed
my words. I swear it, by Allah, and on the forfeiture of
my descent from the Messenger of Allah, that if I hear
that any one of my generals, retainers, or servants is at
your door, I shall strike off his head and confiscate his
property. Let him then who will, take that course.
What is the meaning of all these daily processions back
and forth to your door? Have you no spindle to keep
you busy or QurDan to remind you (of Allah) or house
to shield you? Beware and again beware! Open not your
doors hereafter to either Moslem, Christian, or Jew."
Khaizuran departed in a high passion, knowing not
whither she went.24
This stormy outburst, instead of clearing the at
mosphere, proved but a prelude to a series of other out
breaks on the different parts of the political horizon.
Following the drastic step he had taken with his
mother to its next logical move, Had! summoned his
generals and started by putting this question to them:
"Who is better, I or you?"
"Most certainly you, O Commander of the Believ
ers," they answered.
"And who, then, is better, my mother or your
mother?"
"Assuredly your mother," they made reply.
"Then which of you," continued Had!, "would like
to have the men speak of his mother's affairs saying,
'So-and-so's mother did thus and so,' and 'So-and-so's
mother said this and that'?"
Ibid.y p. 570; Ibn Athlr, VI, 68; Mascudl, VI, 269-70; Fakhrt, pp. 261-
62; Ibn Khaldun, III, 217.
92 TWO QUEENS OF BAGHDAD
"Not any one of us would like that," they readily
answered.
"Then, what mean you by coming to my mother and
by making her and her doings the object of your con
versation?" When they heard this, they ceased their
visits to her altogether.
Khaizuran was deeply hurt at this public humiliation
coming after her own ominous scene with her son. She
separated herself from him and vowed she would never
again speak to him. "Thereafter," adds the record, "she
spoke no word to him, bitter or sweet, and entered not
his presence until death visited him." 25
Mother and son were now openly at war; and each
plotted the undoing of the other. The first round, only
partially successful, went to Had!; the second, swift
and final, brought victory to Khaizuran. Between the
two rounds the fate of Yahya and of Harun al-Rashld
hung in the balance.
That Had! was, to start with, somewhat resentful of
Harun and not quite easy in mind as to his intentions
seems to be warranted from the following episode, which
took place early in the reign. Harun was one day an
nounced while Had! was holding court at c Isabadh.
Among those present and in high favor with Had! was
Zubaidah's full brother, Ibrahim, and Hadl's own right-
hand man, Ibrahim al-Harranl, both sitting to the left
of the caliph. Harun was admitted and took his seat at a
respectful distance to the right. Had! stared at him for
some time in silence and then said: "O Harun, it seems
to me that you allow yourself to dwell too much on the
'sTabari, III, 571; Ibn Athlr, VI, 68; Ibn Khaldun, III, 217.
HUMILIATION 93
fulfilment of the dream 26
and to hope for that which is
not now within your reach. Remember, too, that 'one
must first pluck the thorns from the tragacanth' "—
an Arabic proverb that means the undertaking is ex
ceedingly difficult. 27
Harun knelt on both knees and answered: "O Musa,
the haughty are humbled, the humble are raised (to
honor), and the unjust are deceived. I do certainly hope
that the caliphal authority will (in time) devolve upon
me. I will then be equitable to those whom you have op
pressed and generous to those whom you have cut off
(from your generosity). I will place your sons above my
own and give them my daughters in marriage. I will
bring that to pass which is worthy of the memory of the
Imam Mahdl."
Harun's attitude and reply seems to have dispelled
Hadl's fears and suspicions, at least for the time being.
"Draw nigh, O Abu Ja c far," 28 he said to his brother, who
now approached and kissed his hands, and turned to
resume his former distant seat. "Nay, by that illustrious
Shaikh and the glorious King, your grandfather Mansur,
you shall sit nowhere else but here with me!" and
seated him accordingly. "O Harrani," he next called out
to Ibrahim on his left, "dispatch to my brother a thou
sand thousand dinars immediately and, when the land
tax is in hand, give him the half of it. Put all our
treasuries and that which was taken from the accursed
a6 See below, pp. 97-98.
27 Cf. Mubarrad, Kamil, p. 186.
38 This was Harun's Kunyah or surname as Umm Jacfar was that of his
his sons Musa and Harun would rule, the reign of Musa
would be short, while that of Harun would be long, his
days prosperous, and his age the best of ages.38 Of such
stuff are some political prophecies spun!
Had! is frequently reported as being extremely
jealous for the honor and reputation of the royal harem.
His attitude toward his mother's "unwomanly" conduct
and his line of action and argument with the generals
were, in part at least, genuinely motivated by this senti
ment. This latter is deeply rooted in most Moslems and
highly commended in Moslem societies, particularly
with respect to the women of the upper classes. Other
specific incidents confirm the general statement made of
Had! in this respect.
Ruqaiyah, like Khaizuran and Raitah, outlived the
caliph Mahdl, who had married her early in his reign.
An cAlid prince married the widow, seemingly at the
first opportunity. Had! summoned him and demanded,
"Could you not find women other than the wife of the
Commander of the Believers ?"
"Allah has forbidden none except the wives of my
grandfather (the Prophet)," retorted the cAlid. For this
double daring the man was given five hundred strokes,
which he endured rather than divorce the former
widow of Mahdl.39
A still more gruesome story runs as follows. Had! was
with his friends one night when a servant entered and
whispered something in his ear. He told the company to
38 Tabarl, III, 577; Ibn Athir, VI, 67; Mascudl, VI, 285; Ibn Khaldun,
III, 216.
w Tabarl, III, 483, 587; Ibn Athir, VI, 71; cf. above, p. 66.
HUMILIATION 99
wait, and was gone for quite a while. When he returned,
he was breathing very heavily. Silently he threw him
self on a couch, and an hour passed before his breathing
was calm again. A servant had returned with him, bear
ing a tray covered with a towel. HadI now sat up and
ordered the servant to uncover the tray. The trembling
slave obeyed. The uncovered tray revealed the heads of
two of the most beautiful girls. The scent of perfume,
jewels, and blood clung to the ghastly sight. "Know ye
their offense ?" asked HadI.
"No," they answered briefly.
"I was informed that they were in love," he explained,
"and I set my spies to watch them. I caught them in the
immoral act and killed them myself." He then resumed
his former conversation, as though he had done nothing
unusual in the meantime.40 Thus did Hadl's strong in
stincts and emotions lead him to settle a case of Lesbian
love in his own harem.
Still another harem incident, omitted in the earlier
standard histories, but appearing in more than one later
source, testifies to Hadl's extremely jealous tempera
ment. It highlights his great passion for a concubine
who in all probability was Amat al-cAz!z, involved, as
already seen and for reason of the same sort of jealousy,
in the death of Rablc. Early records state the fact that
Amat al-cAz!z, slave girl of Rablc, favorite concubine of
HadI, was later married by Harun al-Rashld and bore
him a son named cAli.41 The later sources also state that
*° Tabari, III, 590.
«* Ibn Taifur, Kitab Baghdad, ed. H. Keller (Leipzig, 1908), pp. 25-26;
Tabarl, III, 597-98, 757; Ibn Athir, IV, 148.
ioo TWO QUEENS OF BAGHDAD
Harun married a slave girl of Hadl's but give her name
as Ghadir. Unless one is to assume that Harun married
two slave girls of his brother HadI, this Ghadir of the
later sources is to be identified with Amat al-cAz!z. It is
easy enough to see how the name "Ghadir," which
means "Deceiver" or "Betrayer," could come to be ap
plied to the girl in her story as it appears in these later
sources themselves, which runs, in brief, somewhat as
follows.
Ghadir, the concubine of Had!, was exceedingly
beautiful, and Had! was passionately enamored of her.
One day, while she was singing for him, he became
pensive and changed color as the painful thought ran
through his mind that he would die and his brother,
Harun, would marry this beloved. So he sent for Harun
and made both him and the girl take a most binding
oath, even to vowing to make the pilgrimage on foot,
that they would never marry each other. In less than a
month HadI was dead and Harun asked the girl to
marry him.
"What of your oath and mine?" she inquired.
"I will redeem them," answered the royal suitor.
So they were married, and she found more favor with
Rashld than she had found with HadI. She would go to
sleep with her head in his lap, while he would sit mo
tionless so as not to awaken her. One day while thus
asleep, she suddenly woke up crying and terrified. She
informed Harun that she had dreamed of his brother,
who recited verses to her, among them, "You did (after
all) marry my brother; in truth did they name you
'Ghadir.' Ere morning comes, you shall join and accom-
HUMILIATION IOI
pany me." Harun tried to calm her with, "These are but
confused dreams/' but she believed otherwise. Her
guilty conscience and superstitious terror so completely
unnerved her that she was dead within the hour. Harun
mourned her greatly. It was, according to these records,
on account of the oath he had made to Had! in connec
tion with her that Harun made the pilgrimage of
I 73/79°—Ae year also of her death—on foot, walking,
Mukhta$ar al-Duwal, p. 222; Ibn Khaldun, III, 217; Ibn Taghrlbirdl, I, 458;
Suyuti, T(PrJkhy p. 109.
71 E.g., Zaidan, II, 126; Rifa c I, I, 109; G. Weil, Geschichte der islami-
Triumph
Th' affrighted sun erewhile had fled,
And hid his radiant face in night;
A cheerless gloom the world o'erspread—
But Harun came and all was well.
Again the sun shoots forth his rays;
Nature is decked in beauty's robe:
For mighty Harun's sceptre sways,
And Yahya's arm sustains the globe.1
Mascudl, VI, 288-89; Khatib, XIV, 128-29; Ibn Khallikan, IV, 104; Ibn
Taghrlbirdl, I, 149.
* E.g., Tabarl, III, 604; Ibn Athir, VI, 75; Ibn cAbdus, p. 211; Ibn Tagh
rlbirdl, I, 460; Ibn Khaldun, III, 217, 223.
TRIUMPH ii5
not one of preachment or prohibition but rather one of
persuasion and inducement. "Whenever," says the his
torian, "Yahya saw anything in Harun that he disliked,
he did not confront him with disapproval; but rather he
quoted to him proverbs and related to him stories of
kings and caliphs that pointed to the necessity of desist
ing from whatever it was that he disliked. For, he used
to say, 'Prohibition leads to instigation, especially with
caliphs, for although you do not intend to incite one to
a particular action, if you prohibit it, you do urge it
onward.' " 4
Harun inaugurated his reign by a bloodthirsty act of
vengeance on one of Hadi's adherents who had been too
eager to have Harun make way for the newly appointed
heir, Jacfar, as he rode by. Harun had stepped aside as
ordered; but the insult had rankled, and now it cost the
unfortunate adherent his head.5 Khaizuran, even more
vengeful, wished to inaugurate her power by a massacre
of all the leaders who had forsaken Harun and taken the
oath of fealty to young Jacfar. Here, again, it was
Yahya's master-hand that pointed to a "better way."
"And what is this better way?" asked Khaizuran.
"Let them be exposed to slaughter by the enemy,"
said the wazir. "If they defend themselves, that defense
itself will keep them busy. If the enemy should carry
them off, then you will be relieved of them." She ap
proved his plan, and the people involved were thus
saved from immediate and direct vengeance.6
* Ibn c Abdus, pp. 237-38.
5 T a barl, III, 602; Ibn Athir, VI, 74.
6 Ibn c Abdus, p. 212.
II6 TWO QUEENS OF BAGHDAD
Time cooled the hot passion of revenge, and states
manship found ways and means to overlook the past and
to utilize able men in the service of empire. Of special
interest here is the case of c Abd Allah ibn Malik, the old
captain of police. He was, it will be recalled, among
the first to support Hadl's plan and to take the oath of
allegiance to Ja c far. Now he sought canon opinion to
help release him from his oath and did not shrink from
making the prilgrimage on foot, though walking on
quilts, in expiation of that oath. He outlived the Barma-
kids and served both Harun and Ma 3 mun with distinc
tion. 7
Ibrahim al-Harranl, wazir of Had! and custodian of
the imprisoned Yahya, experienced a complete reversal
of role when, at Harun's command, he found himself
Yahya's prisoner. Later he, too, was released and al
lowed to depart the capital. 8
Fadl ibn al-Rabi c , Hadl's chamberlain, who had
secretly lent some aid to Yahya and Harun, was also
taken into the administration. 9 He, however, does not
seem to have been in favor with Khaizuran, who pre
vented Harun from bestowing on him the powerful
office of keeper of the privy seal. Since the office was held
in her lifetime by Yahya's sons, Fadl and Ja c far, in suc
cession, it is quite probable that her opposition, on this
score, to Fadl was due as much to her recollection of his
past position with Had! as to her definite support of the
' Tabari, III, 603,692,704,709,734, 769,773; Jafciz, K. al-Taj, pp. 81 and
92, and references there cited.
8 Tabari, III, 603; Ibn cAbdus, p. 212.
9 Tabari, III, 620; Yacqubl, II, 520; Ibn cAbdus, p. 230.
TRIUMPH 117
Barmakids and their interests. 10 Retaining the office of
chamberlain and grooming his son for the same, Fadl
did, nevertheless, eye the wazirate. Personal ambition
and developing circumstances were already providing
the wedge that was to split asunder an old association
between these two able and powerful wazirate families.
The first pilgrimage of a new caliph is quite an im
portant occasion for favorable propaganda. Mahdi had
made the most of this, in personal display and splendor,
on the one hand, and public works and charity, on the
other." The short and disturbed reign of HadI did not
permit that caliph to make the pilgrimage in person, but
he, too, was liberal with the Holy Cities. 12 Harun, in his
first pilgrimage of 170/787, followed in his father's foot
steps. 13 Khaizuran was not to be outdone by either hus
band or son. Her pilgrimage of 159/776 was made while
she was as yet a slave concubine. 14 A dozen years later
she made the pilgrimage of 171/788 as the queen-mother
whose power had waxed and waned and then waxed
again in triumph.
Khaizuran left the capital for Mecca in the month of
Ramadan (February-March), that is, three months be
fore Dhu al-Hijjah, or the month of pilgrimage proper. IS
It is somewhat disappointing to find no mention of her
10 Tabarl, III, 609; Ibn Athlr, VI, 82.
"Tabari, III, 187, 483; Ya^ubi, II, 476-77-
12 F. Wiistenfeld, Die Chroniken der Stadt Mekka (4 vols.; Leipzig, 1857-
61), III, 109.
13 Tabari, III, 605.
Ibn Taghribirdi, 1,475-78; Suyutl, Husn al-Muha$arah, II, 10; Ibn Khaldun,
III, 218-19.
35 Mas c udl, VI, 289; Zaidan, II, 126; IV, 178.
TRIUMPH 125
she did not indulge in amassing ready cash primarily,26
as Mansur had done and as Harun was soon to do. That
she probably had a collector's instinct of a sort may be
hinted at in the one specific item mentioned in this con
nection, namely, that there were stored in her palace
eighteen thousand brocaded women's dresses or gar
ments.27 Even allowing for the needs of the queen's per
sonal retinue of palace maids, the figure, at first glance,
would seem to be too large for current needs.28 But per
haps one should not attempt to estimate the "needs"
of royalty. That she left, all in all, a large legacy is hard
ly to be doubted; for Harun is on record as "playing
ducks and drakes" with her money and property after
her death.29
Khaizuran did not enjoy her final triumph long, for
death claimed her toward the end of the month of
Jumada II, 173/November, 789.30 She could not have
been over fifty, if she was indeed that old; for the young
girl that Mansur recommended to his son, Mahdl, early
in the fourth decade of the century was then most prob
ably still in her teens. The sources pass over the cause of
her death, which may be assumed, therefore, to have
been a natural one. She had been preceded in death by
Mahdl's royal widow, Raitah.31
Her burial took place on a rainy autumn day; for,
36 Cf., e.g., Ibn Taghrlbirdl, I, 468.
37 Tabarl, III, 569. 38 Cf. Jabiz, K. al-Tajy p. 149.
39Zaidan, II, 126; IV, 178; cf. D. S. Margoliouth, Umayyads and Ab-
basids (Leiden, 1907), p. 230.
3° Tabarl, III, 607^ and 6ogn\ Ibn Athlr, VI, 82.
Mascudi, VI, 289.
126 TWO QUEENS OF BAGHDAD
rain or no rain, the funeral must go on for climatic and
religious reasons. Harun, dressed in the simple and
humble garments of mourning—an upper cloak with an
old blue belt round the waist—was chief mourner and
first pallbearer. Barefooted, he trod in heavy, deep mud
from the royal palace to the eastern cemetery north of
Rusafah, to be known presently as the Khaizuran Ceme
tery.32 At the tomb he offered the last prayer for the
dead. Then, washing the unclean mud of the streets
from his feet, he stepped into the good earth of the
freshly dug grave to perform the very last service due
the departed at the hands and hearts of their nearest
and dearest.33 Painful duty faithfully performed, Harun
emerged from the tomb expressing his filial sorrow in the
long-famous elegiac verses of MutammamibnNuwairah,
quoted by many in days gone by, among them Aishah,
the Mother of the Believers, at the tomb of her father,
Abu Bakr, first caliph of Islam.34
Mourning and sorrow notwithstanding, Harun's first
state act immediately after the funeral was a negation
of his mother's policy and disregard for her expressed
wishes. This was the transfer of the royal signet ring
from Jacfar the Barmakid to Fadl ibn al-Rabic. Harun,
swearing by his own father Mahdi, now explained to
Fadl that it had been in obedience to his mother's
wishes that he had not, ere now, raised him to high office
*a Cf. Guy Le Strange, Baghdad during the Abbasid Caliphate (Oxford,
I9°°)> PP» I92~93> and above, pp. 33 and 121.
« Tabarl, III, 608-9; Ibn Athir, VI, 82; Ibn Taghrlbirdl, I, 468-69.
Ibn Taghrlbirdl, I, 268; Mubarrad, Kamil, pp. 724, 756; Aghani, XIV,
70.
TRIUMPH 127
and favor. This was the beginning of Fadl's rapid climb
to power, checked only by the presence of the Barma-
kids, whose downfall, in which he had a hand, was to
bring him, at last, the coveted wazirate.35
Harun, as already stated, dispensed Khairuzan's
property at his will and pleasure, though that seems to
have included the distribution of alms in her memory
and the provision for her slave girls, retainers, and rela
tives.36 Among the latter, her brother, Ghitrif, seems to
have been in favor with his nephew-caliph who was also
his son-in-law, and who presently appointed him to the
governorship of Khurasan. But Ghitrif was not equal to
the government of this the most difficult province of the
empire and so was recalled the next year.37
There were, no doubt, those among Khaizuran's fol
lowers and relatives who regretted her premature death,
largely because their own fortunes were linked with hers.
Though, doubtless again, there were some who were
fairly attached to her, Khaizuran was a woman more to
be feared and obeyed than to be loved and mourned.
If Yahya, like Harun, was glad to be freed from her
dominating personality, he was much too wise to give
public expression to his feelings. Soon the "Mother of
the Caliphs" was to be forgotten in royal palace and
governmental circles, except perhaps when there were
whispers about the death of Had!. Her very name,
35 Tabarl, III, 609; Ibn Athlr, VI, 82. The signet ring changed hands at
Rashld's whims (cf., e.g., Tabarl, III, 604, 605-6, 644; Ibn Athlr, VI, 104;
Fakhrt, pp. 281-82).
*6 Ibn Taghribirdl, I, 469.
37 Tabarl, III, 612, 626, 740; Ibn Athlr, VI, 83-84; Yaqcubl, II, 488; Ibn
Taghribirdl, I, 479, 482.
128 TWO QUEENS OF BAGHDAD
"Khaizuran" or "reed," seems to be avoided by others
either as a personal name or in its more common use
for that article itself. This was obviously done more out
of calculation to please the living caliph than out of any
tender memories or respect for the departed queen.38
Her charities, particularly those at Mecca, helped to
keep her name alive for a while with the public. But
the public memory is ever and everywhere notoriously
short.
It was left, therefore, largely to the Moslem historians
to preserve Khaizuran's memory through the centuries.
As one, at this great distance of time, marshals the long
series of successive historians into an assembled group,
each to tell his tale as he received or believed it, several
more or less definite conclusions force themselves on
one's attention.
First, there is no escaping the fact that, even when all
have had their say, the story is still incomplete. The
reader, no doubt, will recall references to many a
tantalizing omission in connection with even some of the
major recorded episodes of Khaizuran's public and pri
vate life. Again, there is a steadily growing conviction
that the historians, especially the earliest group, wrote
under one or more, conscious or unconscious, restraints.
To begin with, it was not the proper thing to dwell too
much on the affairs of the harem—any harem. Next,
from Mansur onward, the caliphs demanded that the
royal harem in particular be handled with exceptional
care and caution.
38 Mascudl, VI, 353-54; Ibn al-Jauzi, Akhbar, p. 42; GhuzulT, Matalic al-
Budurjt Manazil al-Surur (2 vols.; Cairo, 1299/1882), I, 182-83; II, 136.
TRIUMPH 129
Over and above these general restraints applicable to
the royal harem in toto, there developed two others that
concerned the affairs of Khaizuran in particular. First,
there was Hadl's express command to the court to let
the words and deeds of his mother strictly alone. This
restriction was relaxed during Khaizuran's brief Indian
summer of power in the interval between Hadl's and
her own death. Thereafter, Harun seems to be tacitly
approving his court's cautious avoidance of the very
word khaizuran. A conspiracy of silence seems to have
developed, perhaps with the instinctive desire or the de
liberate intention, to drown out rumors, no doubt still
lurking in gossip circles, of Khaizuran's own darker con
spiracy for the murder of her son Hadi. And, fortunately
or unfortunately, MahdI's Khaizuran, unlike Justini
an's Theodora, had not her Procopius among the con
temporary court historians.
The succeeding series of cAbbasid historians, bowing
to general usage, on the one hand, and avoiding specific
involvement with the reigning caliph, on the other,
treated Khaizuran and her story with brevity and cau
tion. Post-cAbbasid historians, though free from court
restraint, lacked the sources of information at the dis
posal of their professional predecessors, even if they had
the inclination—and here or there one or more may have
been that curious—to uncover the entire story of this
remarkable slave woman and cAbbasid queen. There
fore, most of the later historical records are, on the
whole, echoes—here dimmed, there reinforced, but
echoes nevertheless—of the earlier ones extant.
Obviously a modern student, curious enough to delve
130 TWO QUEENS OF BAGHDAD
into the story of Khaizuran, suffers from the same lack
of information that all but the contemporary and near-
contemporary historian had to endure. He has, on the
other hand, several advantages over all his predeces
sors. He can, to begin with, bring together all the records
and gain therefrom a synoptic view of the whole over
against the isolated incidents of the part. Furthermore,
he is in a far more advantageous position to achieve
that high degree of objectivity so essential to the dis
covery of historical truth. Thus equipped and condi
tioned, the modern student can leave the assembled
company of past historians—each still clinging to his
particular incident and partial view—to meet, as it were,
in person, the subject of their common interest. For here,
at last, Khaizuran herself seems suddenly to materialize
before the mind's eye in a series of pictures that unroll in
a progressive and significant tale.
First, there is the lowly slave girl, straight and
slender as a reed and gifted richly with feminine charm
and beauty. Her dreamy eyes reflect the long thoughts
of youth—in her case long enough to bridge the vast dis
tance between the common slave girl and the envied
mother of caliphs. In the next picture she holds the cen
ter of the stage at a slave market catering to royalty.
She summons all her natural gifts and woman's wiles to
her aid in this her great moment of opportunity. For she
is as eager as any would-be modern prima donna or
"star" of the stage, the air, and the screen to insure
success and secure a foothold on the ladder to wealth,
fame, and glory. If it takes a lie or two—black or white
TRIUMPH
as the occasion may demand—she, like some of these
modern aspirants, is willing to risk that. Luck is with
her. For her physical charms catch the eye and her well-
calculated words win the approval of the caliph Mansur.
Her good fortune holds out as, in the very next scene,
she captivates the heart of the crown prince Mahdi.
Lavish wealth and equally lavish romance are now hers
to enjoy. She stops long enough to taste leisurely these
fruits of her personal success. She looks around with
keen eyes and open mind to observe and learn court
etiquette and to allow harem rivals the place due them.
Like all women in general and harem women in par
ticular, she has her moments of struggle with the green-
eyed monster of jealousy. She emerges, in each instance,
with a greater self-confidence in her own power to hold
and sway the amiable and indulgent Mahdi. In the
meantime her cup of human happiness is rapidly filling
to the brim as she gives her loving prince, himself in line
for the succession, three sons and a daughter who are
the pride and joy of their father's warm heart.
As the white flame of first love tempers to the red
heat of passion or dulls into the pale glow of "long-
married years," Khaizuran's thoughts dwell more
and more on the lure of personal power. The indulgent
Mahdi, now himself the caliph, fans the flames of her
ambitions by raising her to the enviable status of legal
wife and by appointing her two sons successive heirs
to his throne. The Khaizuran of this picture is the
happy wife and mother, on the one hand, and the
completely successful and immensely ambitious woman,
132 TWO QUEENS OF BAGHDAD
on the other. So long as Mahdi goes her way there is
little to stem her growing ambition or to jeopardize its
eventual fulfilment beyond the harem into the wider
and more exciting fields of court politics and the affairs
of empire.
But, as the next scene develops, there appears in the
distance what seems to be a small cloud on her blue
horizon in the person of her firstborn son, Musa al-
Hadi, first heir to his father's throne. Suffering from
odious, if indirect, comparisons with his younger broth
er, the handsome Harun of sunnier temperament, Musa
is spiritually estranged from his royal parents. As the
young heir grows from youth into manhood, he displays
a mind of his own linked to a strong sense of ego. The
determined and ambitious Khaizuran senses this quick
er and resents it more keenly than does the easygoing
Mahdi. The small cloud in the distant horizon assumes
larger dimensions as it rises overhead. Father and son
reach an open break, calculated, from Khaizuran's point
of view, to dispel the approaching cloud by discrediting
and displacing the wilful son. But here the fates inter
vened with a thunderbolt out of the blue that struck and
carried away no other than Mahdi himself.
As the next scene unrolls, all is quiet on the royal
front. The wilful son seems to have had a change of mind
and heart. The ambitious mother travels in state on the
imperial highway of power. The handsome brother,
happy in the arms of his lovely Zubaidah, is content to
forego power for love. Suddenly, however, the calm is
shattered and a battle royal is in full progress. Khaizu-
TRIUMPH 133
»
ran—the slave become ruler—is both tactless and in
ordinate in the exercise of unlimited power. Hadl's enor
mous egotism and strong self-will reassert themselves.
And Harun's royal fancy toys now with love, now with
power. The gentler sentiments of motherly devotion,
brotherly love, and filial duty are lost sight of in a tidal
wave of the darker human passions—of greed for power
born of self-love and of strong hate born of even stronger
fear. When the battle subsides, Had! marches off in
triumph, Khaizuran is left to nurse her wounds, and
Harun seeks distant hunting grounds. There follows an
intensive war of nerves to which it is Had! who finally
succumbs, aided by a narrowly superstitious mind and
an extensive stomach ulcer. Khaizuran, not yet re
covered from her defeat and humiliation, watches the
death scene with an unfeeling heart as her mind races
forward, impatiently to contrive ways and means to lay
her eager hands once more on the reins of power.
Harun, who had all but lost his life in this royal family
struggle, is now the undisputed caliph. He is, however,
content to let his "Father" Yahya and his mother
Khaizuran rule his empire. But the experienced and
tactful Yahya, though seemingly taking orders, at first,
from Khaizuran, manages somehow to restrain her. For
some three years she enjoys her public triumph.
Of her private life and thought in this same period
nothing at all is known. Did she not, one wonders, dwell
on those happier days with Mahdi when she had not yet
climbed to such heights of power? Did not remorse seize
her as she recalled the tragic life of Hadi? Did an inner
i34 TWO QUEENS OF BAGHDAD
loneliness not grip her heart as she realized that Harun
was drifting away from her, becoming more and more
engrossed with his harem and its lovely Zubaidah? Did
she not feel some pangs of jealousy, as this same Zu
baidah, her own niece though she was, was rapidly com
ing to the fore? These and other questions that tanta
lize the mind must be left unanswered.
In the meantime, Zubaidah herself beckons the reader
to follow her on the road to royal romance and ad
venture.
PART II
Zubaidah
x a. V
137
138 TWO QUEENS OF BAGHDAD
concubines and singing girls. The records speak of
Harun's two hundred slave girls, list some two dozen
concubines who bore him one or more children,3 and re
late many an anecdote of singing girl and palace maid
that caught Harun's passing fancy.
Harun's earliest known concubine was a slave girl of
Yahya the Barmakid named Hailanah (Helen). It was
she who begged Harun, while he was yet a prince, to
take her away from the elderly Yahya. Harun then ap
proached Yahya, who presented him with the girl. Three
years later she died, and Harun mourned her deeply
with verses that proclaimed joy to have departed for
ever from his heart.4 The probabilities are that her death
occurred before Harun's wedding to Zubaidah in 165/
781-82. For the next few years Zubaidah so charmed
Harun that he was about to renounce his claims to the
throne and retire to his harem to enjoy to the full this
young wife's company. Yahya prevented the retirement,
and fate cast a shadow over the romantic couple, as the
passing years brought them no offspring.5
In other ways, too, the course of their true love did
not run so smoothly. There was, for instance, another
slave girl of Yaljya's who crossed Zubaidah's royal road
of romance. This was the gifted yellow songstress,
Dananir the Barmakid, so called because of her affilia
tion with that powerful family. She had been educated
3 Tabari, III, 758—59; Ibn Athlr, VI, 148; III, 54; Yacqubi, II, 521;
Raghib, Muhafyarat, II, 157-58.
4 Suli, Kitab al-Awraq, ed. Heyworth Dune (Cairo, 1934), pp. 18-19;
Khatib, I, 97-98; Yaqut, Geog,y II, 362-63; cf. SuyutI, Ttfrikh, p. 116, trans.
H. S. Jarrett {History of the Caliphs [Calcutta, 1881]), pp. 304-5.
5 Cf. above, p. 102.
ROYALTY AND ROMANCE 139
Manners in Persia (London, 1856), pp. 203-4, for the practice in the Persian
royal family.
ROYALTY AND ROMANCE
pear in the story. At any rate, Marajil, 9 one of the ten
maids involved, presented Harun with his son cAbd
Allah—the future MaDmun—on the night of Harun's
accession to the throne, in Rabl c I, 170/September, 786.
She came from distant Badhaghls10 in Persia and is gen
erally referred to as a Persian slave girl. She died at the
birth of her son," and Zubaidah claimed that she herself
had helped to raise the orphaned cAbd Allah.12 Some six
months later, in the month of Shawwal, 170/March-
April, 787, Zubaidah gave birth to her only child,
Mohammed—the future Amin—who, because of his
doubly royal birth and the favored position of Zubaidah,
overshadowed the older cAbd Allah and the several sons
of Harun who were born within the next few years.
Among these were CA1I, the son of Ghadir, and Qasim,
the son of Qasif, this latter a concubine of whom little
else is known, though her son Qasim was later to figure
as an heir to the throne.
Among the ten girls said to have been given to Harun
by Zubaidah was one named Maridah, daughter of a
Sughdian, though she herself was born in Kufah. She is
credited with bearing Harun no less than five children.
These were Abu Ishaq—the future Mu c tasim—Abu
IsmacIl, Umm Habib, and two others whose names are
9 There is another, though highly questionable, version of how Zubaidah
forced Marajil, the kitchen maid, on Harun's attention (cf. cIqdi III, 430;
Damlri, Hayawan, I, 108). Mascudl, VI, 424-25 gives yet another version,
according to which Harun purchased Ma3mun's mother (unnamed).
10 E.g., Ya^ubi, II, 538; for the town cf. Yaqut, Geog., I, 461.
11 Fawat al-Wajayat, I, 306; Ibn Taghrlbirdl, I, 482.
" Dinawari, Kitab Akhbar al-Tiwal (Leiden, 1888), p. 392; cf. below, pp.
213, 221, and 241.
142 TWO QUEENS OF BAGHDAD
not known.13 Abu Ishaq, generally mentioned first in
the list, was probably not the oldest of the five, since
his birth is placed in 179 or 180,14 that is, some ten years
after his mother was presented to Harun.
There are several indications that Harun was pas
sionately attached to Maridah and that she used her
ready wit to keep him so.15 But they, too, had their
lovers' quarrels. Harun, during one of these peeves, de
parted for Baghdad, leaving Maridah behind at his
court in Raqqah. Presently, growing very lonesome for
her, he composed four verses to express his mood and
asked the court musicians to set them to music. Twenty
different tunes were submitted. Selecting the melody
that pleased him most, he ordered Ibrahim al-Mausili
to sing it. When his verses reached Maridah in Raqqah,
she called on Abu Hafs al-Shatranji (Abu Hafs the chess
player), a poet much in favor with Harun's talented
sister, cUlaiyah. Abu Hafs composed eight verses in
answer. The burden of these was to marvel at the dis
crepancy between Harun's words and actions and to ask
why, if he were indeed the yearning lover, did he leave
her at Raqqah while he enjoyed himself with others at
Baghdad. No sooner did Harun read this gentle rebuke
than he sent his man posthaste to bring her to him in
Baghdad.16
Their estrangement on yet another occasion seems to
have been a little more serious. The episode, according
to an earlier account, is to be placed in the latter part of
^Tabari, III, 758, 1329; Ibn Athlr, VI, 374; <Iqdy III, 54, 433.
^Tabari, III, 1324; Ibn Athlr, VI, 373; Khatlb, III, 34a.
x« Cf. Ibn Hijjah, II, 102. 16 Aghant XIX, 70-71; XVII, 77-78.
y
ROYALTY AND ROMANCE
Harun's reign when Fadl ibn al-Rabic was his wazir
(187-93/803-9).17 Later accounts place it earlier, sub
stituting Jacfar the Barmakid for Fadl. Harun is de
scribed as dying for the love of his Maridah but too
proud to make the first move toward a reconciliation.
Maridah, too, would not take the first step. Fadl was
alarmed for Harun and called on the poet cAbbas ibn al-
Ahnaf to compose appropriate verses, some of which
have been literally translated as follows: "Return to the
friends you have abandoned; the bondsman of love but
seldom shuns (his mistress). If your mutual estrange
ment long endure, indifference will glide (into your
hearts) and (lost affection) will hardly be retrieved."18
Ibrahim was now asked to contrive to sing them before
the caliph. This he did with the result that Harun im
mediately hastened to Maridah, and the two were
reconciled. There followed the usual liberal gifts to the
poet and musician who had been instrumental in bring
ing about the happy ending.19
Several others of Harun's concubines must have of
fered competition to both Zubaidah and Maridah.
Harun and his poets sang the praises of a trio of them
who consisted of Dhat al-Khal, Sihr, and Diya, that is,
"Lady of the Beauty Spot," "Charm," and "Splen
dor."20 Diya passed away, much to Harun's sorrow."
17 Ibn al-Muctazz, Tabaqat al-Shucara°, pp. 120-21.
18 Ibn Khallikan, I, 21.
19See two preceding notes and Zamakhshari, Rau4 al-Akhyar, pp. 246-
47; Ghuzull, Matalic al-Budur> pp. 194-96.
ao Aghant, V, 67; XV, 81-82; Khatlb, XIV, 12; Nuwairi, II, 144.
21 Yaqut, Geog.y II, 363.
TWO QUEENS OF BAGHDAD
Sihr is evidently to be identified with the mother of
Khadljah, daughter of Harun. 22 There is a possibility
that Dhat al-Khal, whose personal name is variously
given, is to be identified as the mother of Harun's son,
Abu al- c Abbas. 23 Be that as it may, she did, for some
length of time, disturb the caliph's emotions.
The Lady of the Beauty Spot had a mole on the upper
lip or on the cheek, which, as the taste of the day went,
enhanced her beauty. She was an accomplished song
stress, belonging to a slave-dealer who was himself a
freedman of c Abbasah, the sister of Harun. She caught
the fancy of Ibrahim al-Mausill, whose songs in praise of
her soon reached the attention of Harun, who bought
her for the enormous sum of seventy thousand dinars.
Harun, alas for his pride and peace of mind, questioned
her as to any intimate relations with Ibrahim, threaten
ing to check on her answer by questioning the latter
also. The girl, thus cornered, told the truth, whereupon
Harun's love turned into hate. Heaping insults on her
head in an effort to wipe out the injury her past re
vealed, he presented her to one of his slaves named
Hammawaih. But Harun missed the girl and her songs
and took the slave to task for keeping her talents all to
himself. The slave humbly assured him that the girl
was at his command. Harun then and there informed
him that he would pay her a visit on the morrow.
Hammawaih hastened to the jewelers to rent twelve
32 Aghani, XXI, 159; Tabarl, III, 7 5 8 ; QIqd> III, 54.
3* The basic written form of the name variously dotted and voweled can
account for its different readings (cf. Tabarl, III, 758; cIqdy III, 54; Agharti,
V, 6 1 ; XV, 8 1 ) .
ROYALTY AND ROMANCE 145
thousand dinars' worth of jewelry with which to adorn
the girl for the occasion. Harun, surprised at the great
display of wealth, asked its source. Finding how the
matter stood, he sent for the jewelers, paid their price,
and presented Dhat al-Khal with the jewels. He swore,
furthermore, that on that day no request of hers should
go unanswered. The happy and grateful girl asked that
Hammawaih be appointed to a number of high offices
in the Persian province of Fars for a period of seven
years. This Harun did, directing his heir that the
period was to run its course, if he himself should die be
fore the seven years were out. 24 The historians report
Hammawaih as in office in Fars in the last three years of
Harun's reign, 2S thus helping to date the above episode.
There is yet another anecdote told of Harun and
Dhat al-Khal, with no clue, however, as to its date. The
girl once secured a promise from Harun to visit her. On
the way to her apartment he was tempted by another
charmer who persuaded him to visit her instead. This so
upset Dhat al-Khal that she came as near as possible to
literally cutting off her nose to spite her face. For in her
jealous rage she cut off her mole to annoy Harun, who
had a weakness for the beauty spot. When Harun
heard what had happened, he hastened to appease her
with the ever ready verses of the poets and the golden
voice of Ibrahim. 26
It would be logical to infer that Maridah and Dhat al-
24 Aghani, XV, 79-80; Nuwairl, V, 88-89; cf. H. G. Farmer, A History of
«8 Cf. above, p. 21; Yaqut, Geog., Ill, 200; Ibn Qutaibah, Macdrif> p. 193;
Zamakhshari, Raui al-Akhyar, p. 264; Ibn Taghribirdi, I, 465, 469; cf.
Horovitz in Encyclopaedia of 1slam, I, 13.
^Tabarl, III, 676-77; Ibn Athlr, VI, 118-19; Mascudl, VI, 387-88;
Fakhri, p. 288; Ibn Taghribirdi, I, 516.
ROYALTY AND ROMANCE
sian Ja c far's subject status. This bizarre arrangement
functioned well enough for a while when Harun enjoyed
to the full the joint company of these two at delightful
sessions from which, by the nature of Moslem society in
general and Harun's honor in particular, Zubaidah
herself was excluded. But propinquity is ofttimes the
handmaid of romance. At any rate, nature, with the
couple in question, rebelled at the fantastic arrangement
and found means to circumvent it. Unfortunately, how
ever, Ja c far's political interest lay athwart Zubaidah's
path. This dual development gave Zubaidah reason
for resentment and opportunity for impetuous revenge,
as will be told elsewhere in this story.50
The affairs not only of Harun's sisters but also of his
daughters must have occupied some of Zubaidah's
thoughts, though here conventional marriages rather
than sophisticated romances were the rule. Here, too,
Ja c far the Barmakid once played a part when he, on his
own authority, promised the hand of cAliyahSI to a dis
tant royal cousin, which promise was presently ap
proved and carried out by an amused caliph.52 Harun
himself kept his word given to his brother, Musa al-
Hadl, when he arranged for the marriage of two of his
several daughters, Fatimah and Hamdunah, to Hadl's
sons, IsmacIl and Ja c far, respectively.53 There were also
50 Cf. below, pp. 191-200 and 262.
_ SI Tabari, III, 759, mentions a daughter named Ghaliyah, but none named
cAliyah; the two are no doubt identical, since the different names can readily
II
There was for Zubaidah in Harun's time yet another
type of romance—the thrill of political intrigue and per
sonal power. Her major political interest centered round
*»/*#</., XIV, 51-52.
61 Ibid.) IX, 99; VII, 34. 62 Ibn Khallikan, I, 533.
63 Mascudl, VIII, 298. The word is arabicized from the Persian \hakir,
a hired man or maid.
6« See below, p. 2 1 2 .
ROYALTY AND ROMANCE 161
the caliphate/' that is, they were reaching out for the
throne, after Harun. So Zubaidah's brother, c Isa, ap
proached the powerful Fadl the Barmakid and enlisted
his help on behalf of Mohammed, saying, "My sister's
son is like a child of yours; his rule will be your rule."
Fadl promised to try to secure the child's succession
and, no doubt, had a hand in the initial step, when
Mohammed's nomination was first announced at Bagh
dad. Much as Harun and his supporters tried to counter
act the unfavorable factor of the prince's youth, yet
there were those who refused to accept so young an heir
to the throne. It was here that Fadl played his decisive
role, by securing allegiance to the new heir in the key
province of Khurasan, to which he himself had been
recently appointed governor. The rest of the provinces
readily followed suit. Thus was firmly established the
heirship of Zubaidah's son, who was to be known hence
forth as Mohammed al-Amln, "Mohammed the Trust
worthy." 10
The education of the princes was one of Harun's
major concerns in the years that followed. These were
• cIqd, 1,119; cf. Aghaniy XX, 31-32, where the poet Nusaib refers to her,
probably on her pilgrimage of 176/793, as "mother of the heir to the throne."
10 Ibn cAbdus, p. 234; Tabari, III, 610-11; Husri, II, 149; cf. Ya^ubi,
II, 493-
174 TWO QUEENS OF BAGHDAD
years in which the boys' intellectual gifts and inherent
character were rapidly unfolding. Mansur and Mahdl
had both exercised great care in the selection of tutors
for their children.11 It was Mahdl himself who had se
lected the Kufan scholar, Kisa3!,12 as tutor to Harun.
The pupil-teacher relationship between Harun and
Kisa3! ripened into one of genuine respect and friendship
so that Kisa3! came to have the enviable distinction of
being promoted from the rank of tutor to that of cour
tier and boon companion to the caliph.13 Harun, how
ever, instructed him as to the nature of the friendly and
scholarly service he was to render him in their more inti
mate contacts. "Recite for us," said he, "the purest of
classical poetry and relate to us such traditions as reflect
the most ethical conduct. Discourse with us upon the
polite learning of the Persians and of India. Hasten not
to contradict us in public, but do not refrain from cor
recting us in private." 14
Harun's great respect for Kisa3! as a teacher led him,
in turn, to appoint the latter as tutor to his two sons,15
probably quite early in their young lives, since Moham-
11 Cf. above, pp. 7 and 62; Rifart, cA$r al-McPmun, I, 174.
"Khatib, XI, 403-15; Ibn Khallikan, II, 237-39 (Arabic I, 336-37);
Yaqut, Irshad, V, 108-11, 183-200; Gustav Fliigel, "Die grammatischen
Schulen der Araber," Abhandlungen fur die Kunde des Morgatilandes, II, No.
4 (Leipzig, 1862), 121-29.
13 Khatib, XI, 403, 406; Yaqut, Irshad> V, 183.
Abmad Amln, fyuha al-Islam (Cairo, 1933), P* I72- Harun abided by
his own rules, for he himself corrected KisPI in private (cf. Khatib, XI, 408).
For a comparable set of instructions given to Asmal see Zamakhsharl,
Rau4 al-Akhyar, p. 32.
15 Dlnawari, p. 383; Yaqut, Irshad, V, 183, 185-86; Raghib, Muhafarat,
I, 29.
HEIRS TO HARUN'S EMPIRE 175
respectively.
« Cf. above, p. 170, and below, pp. 185 and 241. ** Aghant, XVII, 38-39.
"Ibid., XVIII, 82-83; cf. Rifa0!, I, 214-15.
HEIRS TO HARUN'S EMPIRE 183
Ma'mun once entered Hariin's presence while a sing
ing girl was amusing him. She spoke incorrectly, and
MaDmun frowned at her error. The girl changed color.
Harun took note and wondered why. Then, turning to
Ma3mun, he asked if the prince had reproved her.
"No, my Lord," said Ma3mun.
"Not even with a sign?" insisted Harun.
"That is just what did happen," confessed the youth.
"Stay within sight and hearing," said Harun. "When
you receive my order, carry it out." Then he took pen
and papyrus and wrote some verses which first took the
prince severely to task for his rudeness and then in
structed him to see to it himself that he receive twenty
strokes of the whip. The boy called on the gatekeepers
to flog him, but they refused. He insisted, and so they
obliged him. The incident was used by an unfriendly
poet to cast reflection on Ma3mun and his plebeian
mother.36
On another occasion Ma3mun had taken a fancy to
one of Harun's palace maids. She was once pouring
water for Harun when Ma3mun entered. The prince sig
naled her a kiss. She reproved him with her eyebrows
and ceased for the moment to pour the water.
"What is the matter?" cried Harun. The girl faltered
in her answer, whereupon Harun made her tell the story
on pain of death. Then, glancing at his son, he saw that
fear and shame had so overcome him that he took pity
on the youth.
"Do you love her?" asked the father.
*6 cIqdy III, 55; Ibn Qutaibah, Macarif> p. 196; MaqdisI, VI, 113; Fakhrl>
pp. 291-92; Rifa0!, I, 212.
184 TWO QUEENS OF BAGHDAD
"Yes," confessed the son. MaDmun was presented
with the girl for his immediate pleasure but was asked
to compose some lines on the incident. He produced the
following:
A Gazelle, I hinted with my glance
As to my feelings to her.
I kissed her from afar,
But she made excuses with her lips,
And returned the best of answers
By the contraction of her eyebrows.
But I did not quit my place
Before I obtained possession of her.37
*6 Ibid ., pp. 325-26; Gabrieli, op. cit. y p. 347; cf. Palmer, op. cit. y pp. 119-
20.
188 TWO QUEENS OF BAGHDAD
other hand, hurled an inkwell that happened to be at
hand at the messenger as he exclaimed, "Dare you, in
deed, ask me what I shall do on the day that the Com
mander of the Believers dies? Verily, I hope that Allah
may make all of us a ransom for him!" Both answers
were reported to the royal parents.
"Now, what do you think?" asked Harun of Zu-
baidah, who remained silent.47
The few years following Ma3mun's nomination were
tense ones for all concerned. This was also the period in
which yet a third son came into the succession picture—
Prince Qasim, younger than either of the first two heirs
by some three or four years.48 The poets, as usual, had a
word to say. The most effective verse came from cUmanI
and is of special interest in that it addresses Harun as
one guided by his mother.49 But Khaizuran had been
dead for a decade or more. cUmani, it will be recalled,
was not overenthusiastic concerning MaDmun. He prob
ably meant to imply here that Harun's own preference
for Ma'mun was influenced by a tradition transmitted
by Khaizuran regarding that night of destiny which
saw the death of Hadi, the accession of Harun, and the
birth of cAbd Allah al-Ma^mun. Qasim won third place
in the succession by 186/802. Among the poets who
sang in praise of the occasion was Abu al-cAtahiyah. He
lauded Harun for safeguarding the security of Islam in
*7 Rifa^, I, 212; Ibrahim Zaidan, Nawadir al-cUdab<P (Cairo, 1922), pp.
29-30; cf. Yafi0!, II, 78-79, for another incident with same purpose.
«8 Cf. above, p. 141. He was born about 173/789-90 (cf. Khatib, XII, 402;
Tabarl, III, 652-53).
<»TabarI, HI, 760; Aghani, XVII, 80.
HEIRS TO HARUN'S EMPIRE 189
these three heirs, whom he described as angels possessed
of the soft eyes of the gazelle and the brave heart of the
lion.S0 But there were others who saw in this double and
triple division of the empire quite the opposite of angelic
peace and lionhearted strength.51 Harun himself, even if
convinced of the wisdom of his plans, was none too
sure of their eventual execution, as the dramatic events
of the pilgrimage of 186 (December, 802) clearly show.
Leaving his last and youngest heir behind in his own
northern territories, Harun started on the journey, ac
companied, among others, by Yahya (and Zubaidah?)
as also by Amln and Ma^mun traveling in the company
and in care of Fadl and Jacfar, respectively. Medina was
long to remember the blessing of triple largess showered
on it first from the bounty of the caliph himself, then
by the hand of Amin and Fadl, and, finally, from
Ma'mun and Jacfar.52 Mecca, too, was not forgotten in
this respect. But here an even more unusual drama was
soon to take place.
Harun had previously caused each of his two sons to
write out, in their own hand, their complete agreement
to the succession plans and their most solemn oath to
abide by them. The oath involved the severest penal
ties, short of death, conceivable within the law and
practice of Islam. These penalties included, over and
above the forfeiture of all claims on Allah, his Apostle,
and on the community of Islam, the making of many a
pilgrimage on foot to Mecca, the distribution of all
s° Aghant, III, 178-79.
SITabari, III, 652-53.
52 Ibn cAbdus, p. 273; Tabari, III, 651; Ya^ubi, II, 501.
TWO QUEENS OF BAGHDAD
their wealth to the poor, the setting-free of all their
slaves, and the divorcing of all their wives.53
Still Harun felt that that in itself was not enough.
These agreements on oath must be published and the
public itself made witness and party to them. This was
now done in the most solemn and dramatic manner. The
scene was within the sacred mosque before an as
sembled host of the high and the low in the state and
in Islam. The documents in question were hung on the
very walls of the sacred Kacbah. Official letters of noti
fication were started on their way to the far-flung
provinces of the empire, while the returning pilgrims
were to broadcast the news by word of mouth to every
corner of the realm.54 Thus did Harun call on Allah and
all the Believers to bear witness to the vows on the
observance of which rested his hopes for the future peace
of his vast empire. But fate, it seemed to the omen-
minded crowd, was against these plans, for the docu
ments slipped to the ground in the process of posting
them. And though they were in the end firmly secured
to the wall, yet the rank and file of the superstitious
crowd stood in awe of the fearsome omen which to them
meant the speedy negation of the planned successions.55
Among those who still had fears for the miscarriage of
these plans was Jacfar the Barmakid. As Amln was
about to leave the scene, Jacfar accosted him for further
assurance of his honest intentions as regards his own
"Tabari, III, 659, 662; YaCqubl, II, 505, 509.
s*Tabari, III, 654-67; Ya^ubi, II, 509-10.
ssTabari, III, 654; Mascudl, VI, 326-27. It is not clear if Zubaidah was
there in person or heard of this later.
HEIRS TO HARUN'S EMPIRE 191
ward, MaDmun. He asked that Amln repeat thrice, "May
Allah forsake me should I forsake him (Ma'mun)."
Amln complied, but the incident increased Zubaidah's
wrath against Jacfar.s6
The Barmakids, father and sons, came to be deeply
involved in the succession in a series of events that pro
gressively alienated the queen from them, until her re
sentment of Yahya and her enmity for Jacfar in par
ticular were no longer secrets. Zubaidah, it will be re
called, had more than one good reason to be grateful to
this family. She could not have failed to realize Yahya's
all-important role in placing Harun himself on the
throne and of relieving that monarch of the burdens of
administration so that he could be all the freer to enjoy
her company. It was Yahya's son, Fadl, who had
brought about the first nomination of her son to the
heirship. Again, it was Yahya's restraining hand that
prevented Harun from placing Ma^mun ahead of Amln.
But, from Zubaidah's point of view, these services came,
in time, to be overshadowed by a series of events that
centered, primarily, round Jacfar, the third and young
est member of the family.
The Barmakids were, undoubtedly, the most gifted
and able wazirate family in the history of the early
c Abbasids. The sons, born of different mothers and both
in, Yahya led him, even at the risk of his life, to inform
the latter of the extremely disturbing incident. 63
This is not the place to go into the complicated ques
tion of the fall of the Barmakids. Suffice it to point out
here that Harun's grievances, actual and imagined, were
many and varied; 64 that his growing displeasure with the
family stretched over a long period of years; 65 and that
the Barmakids themselves were not unaware of the
danger threatening them. 66 But accumulated causes of
long standing do frequently wait upon some specific oc
casion to direct them into corrective or retributive
channels. That, at any rate, was the case in the down
fall of the Barmakids.
It is precisely at this point that Zubaidah's contribu
tion to the fall is of great interest. According to one set
of accounts, it was Zubaidah, who, taking advantage of
Harun's growing displeasure, smarting under Yahya's
strict control of the palace, and fearing Ja c far's support
of Ma D mun, revealed to Harun the secret love of Ja c far
and c Abbasah and its fruit of one or more children sent,
in the interest of secrecy and safety, to live in Mecca.
Harun was shocked to the core of his royal being at the
great dishonor Ja c far had inflicted on the c Abbasid
blood and name. He determined, then and there, to de
stroy Ja c far but delayed the execution until he had seen
63 Ibn cAbdus, pp. 278-80; cf. Fakhri, p. 287.
64 Tabari, III, 667-77, 1332-34; Ibn Athir, VI, 118-22; Ibn cAbdus, pp.
304-5, 33i; Mascudl, VI, 362, 386-87.
65 Jabiz, K. al-Tajy p. 66, and cIqd> III, 30, for a period varying from five
7° Ibid., p. 669.
198 TWO QUEENS OF BAGHDAD
termined to avenge himself on Jacfar, and said to Fadl,
"I am going to tell you a secret which you must on no
account divulge. I am going to destroy Jacfar."71
Fadl ibn al-Rabic no doubt received this confidence
with inward satisfaction, for his professional rivalry and
ambition as well as his personal differences with the
Barmakids had led him, from the beginning of the reign
of Harun, to envy and hate them, particularly Jacfar. As
chamberlain to Harun he was in an excellent position to
sense which way the wind of royal favor or disfavor was
blowing. He, more than any other in Harun's service,
stood to gain the most by the fall of the wazir and his
sons. For even before that event actually took place,
there was talk of it in the capital coupled with the pre
diction of Fadl's wazirate. Fadl was indeed made the
wazir and, as such, lifted not a finger to aid the aged
and hopelessly fallen Yahya, who in the past had
rendered him and his father numerous favors.72
Zubaidah, on the other hand, is credited with a seri
ous effort on behalf of the imprisoned Yahya. The latter
appealed to Amln on the strength of the foster-relation
ship between him and a son of Jacfar's, let alone Fadl's
services to that heir. Amin took the matter to Zu
baidah, who watched for a favorable opportunity to
present Yahya's written appeal to Harun in person.
Having read the pathetic verses, Harun jotted below
them, "The enormity of your guilt has hardened all feel
ings of forgiveness for you," and threw back the slip to
71 Ibn Isfandiyar, pp. 136-39; cf. Ibn cAbdus, p. 265, for another example
of such confidence.
72 Ibn cAbdus, pp. 265, 314-18; Ibn Khallikan, II, 468-69; Yafi0!, II, 42.
HEIRS TO HARUN'S EMPIRE 199
foster-mother, made pathetic and futile appeals on behalf of the two prison
ers. Dananlr the songstress, who in her earlier years had so charmed Harun,
fell with the rest, faithful to the last (cf. cIqdy III, 28-29; Ibn cAbdus, p. 302).
76 Mascudl, VI, 504-5.
77Tabari, III, 693; Ibn Athlr, VI, 119-20; Ibn Khallikan, II, 464, 467;
IV, 112.
78 Ibn cAbdus, pp. 329-30; Khatlb, XIV, 132; Ibn Khallikan, IV, 112; Ibn
273-74. His death was due to a fever brought on by a stomach ailment, the
nature of which is not specified.
w MawardI, Kitab Adab al-Dunya wa al-Din (Cairo, 1925), p. 99; cf.
Fakhriy pp. 264-65; Palmer, op. cit., p. 31.
Tabari, III, 736-39; Ibn Athir, VI, 144-45.
^VII^
But if Harun's star had set at Tus, the sun shone once
more for several of his political prisoners in the jails of
Baghdad and Raqqah. Zubaidah, now queen-mother,
seems to have influenced Amln's move in this direction.
Fadl ibn Yahya, however, did not live long enough to
3 Aghaniy VIII, 12-14; f°r Yazld and his slave girls see Nabia Abbott,
"Women and the State in Early Islam/' Journal of Near Eastern Studies, I
O942), 358.
* Fawat, II, 125; Ghuzull, II, 296; cf. above, pp. 154-56.
s Aghanty IX, 94.
6 See preceding note. Al-Khuld is the Palace Immortal of Man§ur.
WAR AND PEACE 207
Chronicle (Cambridge, 1929), pp. 70-71, for translation of passage and cor
recting Levy's "half-brother" to read "uncle" and "gold coins" to read
"Dananlr (the songstress)."
,9TabarI, III, 956-57; Ibn Athlr, VI, 206-7.
WAR AND PEACE 211
811, and met with disaster two months later when CA1I
himself lost his head to MaDmun's general Tahir. The
news of this catastrophe reached Amln when he was
3aTabarI, III, 817-18; cf. pp. 797-98; Ibn Athlr, VI, 165; Fakhrs y pp. 295-
96; Ibn Khaldun, III, 233.
33 Cf. Ya^ubl, II, 530, and Ibn Abl Usaibicah, 1,134, where Amln is said
to have given the chain tocAlI; Tabarl, III, 797-98, and Ibn Taghrlbirdl, II,
553> where the chain, though mentioned, is not credited to either. Ma^mun
himself credited the chain incident to Fadl (cf. Ibn Taifur, p. 14).
WAR AND PEACE 21?
^Tabari, III, 833-36, 840; Ibn Athlr, VI, 174-76; Hu§ri, II, 149-51; Ibn
c Abdus, pp. 372-73.
WAR AND PEACE 217
53 Ibn Taifur, pp. 21-22; cIqdy II, 20; cf. Ibn TaghribirdT, 1,632; Rifa0!, Ill,
38. Zubaidah could not have recovered the treasure looted from her palace.
Some of her fabulous jewelry found its way into distant Spain, where, like
the modern Hope diamond, it is said to have brought misfortune to its
successive possessors.
54 Mascudl, VI, 487; Ibn Taifur, pp. 30-32; Ibn cAbdus, p. 384; Tabari,
III, 1041-42; Ibn Athir, VI, 255; Wiistenfeld, op. cit.y III, 121, but cf. Ibn
Khallikan, I, 650.
55 Ibn Taifur, p. 27.
222 TWO QUEENS OF BAGHDAD
three, whether or not on Ma3mun's order is not clear,
from Baghdad to the northeastern town of Humainiya
on the Upper Zab River. Later still he sent the child
princes to their uncle in Khurasan. Some state that
MaDmun wished to have Zubaidah also join him at Merv
but that she preferred not to go.56 It was, most probably,
about this time that MaDmun's own wife, Umm cIsa, and
her two young sons joined him in Khurasan.57
Among those who mourned Amln was his royal cousin
and still-virgin wife, Lubabah. Her verses for the oc
casion became a type for the use of noble ladies who lost
their husbands before the marriage was consummated.58
His talented uncle, Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdi, who had con
tributed to his pleasure gatherings, bewailed the sad
fate of the young caliph at the hands of Tahir.59 Abu
Nuwas, too, grieved for his royal patron.60 There were,
on the other hand, those who not only refused to mourn
for Amln but would not even refrain from speaking evil
of the dead. These, with the tribulations of the civil war,
which they blamed on Amln, not yet all behind them,
listed in verse all that departed caliph's shortcomings.61
The center of imperial affairs now shifted to Merv and
56Tabari, III, 934; Ibn Athir, VI, 207; cIqd II, 20; cf. Guy Le Strange,
y
The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate (Cambridge, 1905), p. 37, where this is con
fused with a place of similar name, but south of Baghdad.
s7Tabari, III, 836; cf. above, pp. 158 and 209.
58TabarI, HI, 941-42; Mascudl, VI, 485; Mubarrad, Kamil, p. 773.
"Tabarl, III, 952-53; Ibn Athir, VI, 201-2.
6oHusri, III, 102; cf. Rifa0!, Ill, 323; Abu Nuwas, Dtwan (Cairo, 1322/
I9°4)> PP* 108-9. The poet died before Ma3mun's return to Baghdad (cf.
Tabarl, III, 965).
6lTabarI, HI, 939; Ibn Athir, VI, 205.
WAR AND PEACE 223
Mascudi, VII, 61-62; Yacqubi, II, 552-53; Husri, II, 29-30; Yafi^, II, 80-81.
66 Tabarl, III, 1025-26; Ibn Athir, VI, 245-46; Fakhri> pp. 301-2.
67 Tabari, III, 1027, 1029; Ibn Athir, VI, 246; Mascudl, VII, 35-36;
Yacqubl, II, 549; Hu§ri, I, 274; Ibn Khallikan, I, 270; II, 474~75; Fakhri,
pp. 300-301, 306.
226 TWO QUEENS OF BAGHDAD
The royal caravan and armies moved on to arrive at
Tus, in Safar, 203/August-September, 818, where
Ma^mun stopped to pay his respects at the tomb of his
father. Suddenly CAH al-Rida took ill and died—from
overeating grapes, the report had it, but poisoned
grapes no doubt. Ma3mun himself prayed over the
body and saw to its burial near the tomb of Harun al
Rashld. He then sent word of the death to Baghdad and
at the same time called on the cAbbasid family—which
had numbered in the census of the year 200/815-16
some 33,000 souls, both male and female68—to return to
their allegiance. The response was not encouraging at
first.69 But as Ma^mtin drew nearer and nearer to cIraq,
Ibrahim's hold grew weaker and weaker, until he was
deposed toward the end of 203/June, 819, in favor of the
approaching MaDmun.70 Fadl ibn al-RabIc had, during
this brief period, come out of his hiding but was now
again forced to take cover.71 Ibrahim himself fled in dis
guise and entered incognito on a long period oi Arabian
Nights' adventure.72
Ma'mun at last reached Nahrawan, where Tahir had
been ordered to meet him. Here, too, came the generals
and the notables from Baghdad to meet the returning
68 Tabarl, III, 1000.
69 Ibid. pp. 1029-30; Yacqubl, II, 550-51; Fakhri, p. 301.
3
70 Ibn cAbdus, pp. 395-97; Ibn Athir, VI, 225-28, 229-30, 241, 250-52;
Ya^ubl, II, 544-45; Fakhri, pp. 299-300; Wustenfeld, op. cit., Ill, 121-22.
71 Ibn cAbdus, pp. 372-73; Yacqubl, II, 247-48, 252; Tabarl, III, 1011,
1035; Ibn Athir, VI, 226, 251; Ibn Khallikan, II, 470.
72Tabarl, III, 1075; Ibn Athir, VI, 250-51; Mascudl, VII, 60; Ibn Khalli
kan, 1,16-18; Ibn Hijjah, I, 233-41; Abu Faraj, pp. 283-84; Ghuzuli, 1,197-
207; Islamic Culture, III (1929), 263.
WAR AND PEACE 227
caliph and accompany him back to the city of his
ancestors. The cAbbasid Ma3mun entered the capital on
a Saturday in §afar, 204/August, 819, but dressed in the
c Alid uniform of green and with the green c Alid banners
translation, p. 320.
" Cf. Ibn Taifur, p. 28.
^Tabari, III, 1067; Ibn Taifur, pp. 8-9,11-20; Ya^ubl, II, 552; Isfandi-
yar, p. 136; Ibn Khallikan, II, 470.
228 TWO QUEENS OF BAGHDAD
harboring dynastic ambitions. There are those, how
ever, who would explain Ma'mun's growing dislike of
Tahir by the persistent memory of the part played by
the latter in the death of Amln.
But to return to Zubaidah. The time of Zubaidah's
return to the capital, from which Tahir had removed
her, is nowhere specified. But since Ma3mun restored
her properties and did not insist on her joining him, she
probably returned to Baghdad early in this period.
The tenor of her private life at the time must be inferred
from the general custom of the society of her day. This
latter called for an extended period of mourning and
greatly curtailed social activities. The records are silent
on her political attitude and actions in the critical
period of some six years between the death of her son
early in 198/813 and the entry of Ma'mun into Bagh
dad early in 204/819. The probabilities are that she
who had refused to take any steps to avenge the blood
of her son and had followed that up with a successful
reconciliation with Ma3mun was not likely to lend her
self in any way to the support of the countercaliphate of
Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdl."
When Ma'mun arrived at Baghdad, Zubaidah greeted
him with the following congratulatory speech: "I con
gratulate you on a caliphate for which I have already
congratulated myself ere I saw you. Though I have lost
a son who was a caliph, I have been recompensed with a
caliph son whom I did not bear. He is no loser whose
77 It is interesting to note that it was a relative or a freedman of Ibrahim's
who was said to have recognized Amln after the capsized boat incident and
to have made his identity and whereabouts known to Tahir and his men (cf.
Tabari, III, 917; Yacqubi, II, 536).
WAR AND PEACE 229
dad. But the three joined him later in Sha c ban, 205/
January, 821. Zubaidah probably saw quite a little of
them thereafter. Musa, Amln's choice of first heir, died
while still a youth in Sah c ban, 208/December, 823—
8aTabarI, III, 1098; Ibn Khallikan I, 205; see also Aghani, XXI, 17-18;
VII, 65; Khatib, VII, 321; Ibn Khallikan, I, 268-69 (Arabic, I, 93); Fakkri,
pp. 306-7; SuyutI, TaPrikh, p. 121, and translation, p. 321.
WAR AND PEACE 233
great resemble a gravel of pearls upon a ground of
gold.' "90
The bride, too, had her share of beautiful pearls when
her grandmother showered a golden trayful of these
fabulous gems on her. But this time Ma3mun saw to it
that not even one of the thousand pearls thus scattered
went to any but his bride herself. Once more the
lustrous pearls were piled on the golden tray, which
Ma'mun himself now placed on Buran's lap.
"This is your wedding gift," said he to his bride.
"Now, ask of me what you will." But Buran modestly
refrained from any request until her grandmother en
couraged her with, "Speak to your lord, and make your
wishes known as he has commanded." So Buran, who
had, no doubt, been schooled for this very moment,
asked that the former caliph, Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdl, be
fully forgiven and set free and that the Lady Zubaidah
be allowed to go on the pilgrimage. Needless to say,
both wishes were graciously granted, along with a third
wish, referred to but not specified.91
But the royal groom and his family were not likely to
let the wazir and his family exceed them in the lavish
liberality of the occasion. There was Ma'mun's half-
sister, the wealthy and haughty Hamdunah,92 who spent
25,000,000 dirhams, while Zubaidah proudly estimated
her cash expenditure at between 35,000,000 and 37,-
9°ThacalibI, Lat<Pif al-Macarifi p.73; Khatib,VII, 321-22; Ibn Khallikan,
I, 269; Fakkri, p. 307.
9IT a b a r I , m > 1074-75, 1082-83; Ibn Athlr, VI, 277; Ibn Taifar, pp. 183—
m Tabari, III, 1083-84; Ibn Taifur, p. 208, 210-11; Ibn Athir, VI, 279;
cf. above, p. 12.
Tabari, III, 1083; Ibn Taifur, p. 209; Mascudl, VII, 66; Ibn Khallikan,
1, 269.
95 Tabari, III, 1140; Ibn Athir, VI, 304; Ya^ubl, II, 573; Ibn Khallikan,
I, 270.
* Ibn Khallikan, I, 270; Yaqut, Geog., I, 808; Ibn TaghribirdI, II, 72.
WAR AND PEACE *35
London, 1889), II, 294 (n. 117), 308-12; cf. cIqd> III, 452-58; Ibn Khaldun, I,
16-17.
^VIII^
pp. 243-44; Reuben Levy, A Baghdad Chronicle (Cambridge, 1929), pp. 536—
37. A "Barmecide (Barmakid) feast" has come to mean in English, through
the Arabian Nights, an imaginatively sumptuous repast.
a Mascudl, VI, 407; Khatib, VII, 156-57; Ibn Khallikan, I, 315.
238 TWO QUEENS OF BAGHDAD
in favor with her and with Ma^mun3—and the first to
dress up palace girls as page boys—setting the fashion in
all these innovations for high society.4 To this list of
"firsts" others add one more, namely, that she was the
first woman to prefer swift camels to asses for use on
her pilgrimages.5 The queen's taste and ingenuity in
other phases of palace boudoir and salon life must be
gauged accordingly.
Zubaidah's influence in these, as in other, matters
spread far beyond the capital and the imperial province
as she herself journeyed to pleasure and health resorts
along the banks of the Tigris, or joined her royal hus
band at his favorite Raqqah in northern Syria, or
undertook her several pilgrimages to the sacred cities of
Islam. She lent her name to several sites in capital and
empire, all called "Zubaidlyah" in her honor. Two of
these were extensive and choice fiefs in western Bagh
dad, where the queen's palaces, gardens, and retainers'
quarters were located.6 Another Zubaidlyah was close
to Wasit al-cIraq, most probably in the region of the
Nahr Maimun Canal, which was dug at her orders.7 A
fourth Zubaidlyah lay farther east on a healthy site in
the Persian district of Jibal.8 At least three Zubaidlyahs
* "Bibliotheca geographorum Arabicorum \BGA\VII, 369; Nuwairi,
XII, 54-55.
« Mascudl, VIII, 295-99.
5 BGAy VII, 195; cf. Thacalibl, Lat&if al-Macarif> p. 15; Ghuzull, II, 185.
6KhatIb, I, 71, 87, 89, 93, no; Yaqut, Geog.> II, 917; IV, 13a, 141; Le
Strange, op. cit.> pp. 54, 113-17, 124, and Map V.
* Baladhurl, Futiik, p. 291 ; Yaqut, Geog.y IV, 719; II, 917.
8 BGA> IV, 19, 198; IIa (1939 ed.), VII, 165, 270; cf. Guy Le Strange, The
don, 1856), p. 92; Eric Schroeder, in Survey of Persian Art, ed. A. U. Pope,
II (1939)> 943> and Andr6 Godard, in Ars Islamica, VIII (1941), 4.
240 TWO QUEENS OF BAGHDAD
exaggerated traditions. For Zubaidah is known to have
indulged in extensive public works in several provinces,
near or distant, of the empire. An earlier Arab source, for
instance, credits her with a fortified monastery in the
far-distant border city or region of Badakhshan, just
west of the river Oxus and famed for its mines of pre
cious stones. But a later Persian source makes her the
very foundress of that mighty city itself.16 The border
fort of Warathan in the northern province of Adhar-
bayjan had been first constructed by the Umayyad
Marwan II (127-32/744-50) but fell later to Zubaidah,
who saw to its repair and upkeep.17 Farther west on the
Syrian-Byzantine border, Zubaidah had a guest house
or wayfarer's inn in the mountain town of Baghras.18
But the queen's philanthropy reached far beyond
these endowed establishments on the distant borders of
the empire that ministered to lonely soldier, traveling
merchant, pious monk, or needy beggar. It embraced
major public work projects that were intended to bring
comfort and joy to the inhabitants of the sacred city of
Mecca, on the one hand, and to Islam's great pilgrim
host, on the other. For, over and above such cash dis
bursement as Zubaidah may have made to both Mecca
and Medina,19 she undertook to give the Meccans and
16 JEGA, III, 303; Yaqut, Geoj. I, 528; cf. Le Strange, Lands of the Eastern
t
Caliphate, p. 436; Hudud al-cAlam ("The Regions of the World") ("Gibb
Memorial Series: New Series," Vol. XI [London, 1937]), trans. V. Minorsky,
p. 349, and references there cited.
17 Baladhuri, Futuh> p. 329; BGA> V, 284; Yaqut, Geog., IV, 919.
18 BGA, I, 65; Hudud al-cAlam> p. 150.
*» Khatlb, XIV, 433~34-
IN THE HALL OF FAME 241
their annual pilgrim guests, on the way and in the
sacred city itself, the great boon of refreshing waters to a
thirsty land. In her generous and pious concern for the
welfare of the sacred cities, Zubaidah was following a
well-established precedent in the tradition of Arab
royalty. She had, furthermore, the example of Harun to
live up to. Nevertheless, her interest did not spring from
a mere sense of detached duty or a competitive desire to
keep up with the caliphs. For Zubaidah herself traveled
the Pilgrim Road and dwelt for some months in the
sacred precincts of Mecca. Here she had at least two
establishments and some property that had formerly be
longed to Jacfar the Barmakid.20 And, following the
fashion of the Meccans, she, too, had her gardens in the
near-by resort city of Ta^if," where she undertook the
repairs of a mosque associated with Mohammed and ad
joining the tomb of the arch-Traditionist, cAbd Allah
ibn cAbbas. On one of the walls of the mosque appeared
the inscription that recorded her philanthropy: "The
Lady Umm Jacfar, daughter of Abu al-Fadl and mother
of the heirs presumptive to the Moslem throne—may
Allah prolong her life!—ordered the restoration of the
mosque of the Prophet at Ta3if wherein it was accom
plished in the year one hundred and ninety-two [807-
8]." M
aoF. Wiistenfeld, Die Chroniken der Stadt Mekka (4 vols.; Leipzig, 1857-
61), I, 319i 3*8, 330, 462; II, 13; HI, 137, 159; Yaqut, Geog.> II, 523.
21 Hamdani, Jazirat al-cArab, ed. D. H. Muller (2 vols.; Leiden, 1884 and
1891), I, ISO.
22 Wustenfeld, op. cit., II, 76; Repertoire chronologique d'Spigraphie Arabe
y
I (Cairo, 1931), 66.
TWO QUEENS OF BAGHDAD
Harun and Zubaidah were both given to frequent
pilgrimages. Harun began his reign with an avowed de
termination to lead in sacred pilgrimage and sacred war
in alternate years but was, for various reasons, unable to
live up to his intentions. He is, nevertheless, credited
with from six to nine pilgrimages in all.23 Zubaidah has
five assured pilgrimages to her credit, with a possibility
of a sixth. The first of these was made in 173/790 in the
company of Harun, who was making the journey on
foot.24 the next one was in I76/792.25 It is not quite cer
tain that she accompanied Harun on that fateful pil
grimage of 186/802, though the great issues at stake and
the indirect reference to her displeasure at Jacfar the
Barmakid's conduct on that occasion may imply her
actual presence.26 There is, however, no doubt about her
pilgrimage of 190/805, when she must have witnessed
the effects of recent droughts and the people's great suf
fering from thirst, which both she and Harun undertook
to relieve, in part, by increasing the depth of the sacred
well of Zamzam.27
Perhaps it was the above experience that led the queen
to undertake, on behalf of the Meccans and the annual
pilgrims, waterworks that were bolder in conception and
more extensive in scope than anyone had previously
a* Ibn cAbdus, p. 252; BGA, VIII, 346; Mascudl, IX, 66-68; Ma c arify pp.
193 ff.; Ya^ubl, II, 521-22, 526; Tabari, III, 701; Wiistenfeld, op. cit.y IV,
179, 184.
a* Cf. above, pp. 99-101; cIqd> III, 350.
a5 Mascudl, IX, 67; Tabarl, III, 628-29; Ibn TaghribirdI, I, 482.
26 Cf. above, pp. 189-91.
Ya^ubl, II, 519; cf. BGAy VII, 43.
IN THE HALL OF FAME 243
considered. The ambitious project included the central
waterworks around the Spring of Hunain some twelve
miles east of Mecca, a number of smaller springs, large
water reservoirs, and a subterranean aqueduct that
brought the water to Mecca and to the precinct of the
sacred territory. Famous among this complex of water
works was the "Spring of Zubaidah" on the Plain of
c Arafat—a veritable and priceless boon to the tens of
Wiistenfeld, op. «/., Ill, 335; IV, 186. Contrast her action with that of
Man§ur, who held the builders of Baghdad to strict account (cf. above, p. 2).
Yaqut, Geog., IV, 998; for itineraries of this road cf. BGA, I, 27; II, 40;
VI, 125-34, 185-87; VII, 174-80, 311-12; HamdanI, Jazirat al-cArabi 1,183-
85; for identification and mapping of cities cf. B. Moritz, Arabien (Hanover,
1923), map facing p. 58; Alois Musil, Northern NeQd (New York, 1928) and
Northern Arabia (maps) (New York, 1926).
« E.g., BGAy II (1937-38 ed.), 40; VI, 186-87; Yaqut, Geog.> IV, 804.
246 TWO QUEENS OF BAGHDAD
hagen, 1774 and 1778), II, 300-301. For Hasan Pashah and his wife see
Stephen Hemsley Longrigg, Four Centuries of Modern Iraq (Oxford, 1925),
pp. 123-27.
44 E.g., J. R. Wellsted, Travels in the City of the Caliphs (2 vols.; London,
und Tigris Gebiet (4 vols.; Berlin, 1911-20), I, 239; II, 157,173-79; Herzfeld,
25o TWO QUEENS OF BAGHDAD
versy of the tomb rests while the stately, snow-white,
honeycombed cone, a perfect specimen of its archi
tectural type, continues to be popularly accepted as
marking Zubaidah's final resting-place.
But if the Moslem historians neglected to provide
adequate information as to Zubaidah's original tomb
and its subsequent history, they have, nevertheless,
taken considerable pains to perpetuate her memory and
to detail several instances where her originality and
philanthropy served as an inspiration to others in the
course of the centuries. The queen's first post-mortem
anecdote, though made of the hazy stuff of dreams, is
nevertheless quite significant: The departed Zubaidah
was seen in a dream and was asked about her condition
in the other world. To which she replied: "Allah for
gave me with the very first stroke of the pickax on the
Mecca Road."49 Dreams apart, the story is an indica
tion of the great value that Zubaidah's fellow-Moslems
of the time set on her crowning charity—the pilgrim
road from Kufah to Mecca. The road came to be known
as Darb Zubaidah or the Zubaidah Road. It still exists
under that name even today, though it is referred to
also as the Persian Pilgrim Road or the Sultan! Road—
that is, the State Highway.50
More tangible testimony to her contemporaries' ap
preciation of her great philanthropies comes from
120, and translation, pp. 317-18; forcAtikah see Nabia Abbott, "Women and
the State in Early Islam," Journal of Near Eastern Studies, I (1942), 349-51.
5* Ibn Taifur, p. 210; Tabari, III, 1084.
IN THE HALL OF FAME 253
out any varnish, on pain of death, shaking his javelin
at him the while to reinforce his command. Mohammed,
having begged for and received the promise of assurance
of life, proceeded with his tale, which in due time
brought him to the events of the reign of Harun al-
Rashid. He dwelt at some length on the glories of that
magnificent reign. In the course of his narration, he men
tioned Zubaidah briefly as performing the most excel
lent of deeds in the reign, namely, the Meccan water
works, the pilgrim road, and her charitable establish
ments at Tarsus and the Syrian border. He proceeded
next to mention, also briefly, the Barmakids. Then,
having listed all of Harun's "firsts," he concluded his
account of that monarch's reign and waited on the
caliph for his next cue.
"I see," said Qahir, "that you have cut short your ac
count of Umm Jacfar's deeds. Why is that so?"
"O Commander of the Believers!" answered Moham
med, "it was for the sake of brevity while awaiting
(your) permission."58
Qahir, eyes flashing with rage, reached for his javelin
and shook it so that Mohammed thought he saw "red
death at its tip." He resigned himself to his fate, not
doubting but that the very angel of death had, indeed,
come to take his life. However, when the caliph did
hurl the javelin at him, Mohammed still had enough
wits about him to leap out of its path.
"Woe to you," exclaimed Qahir. "Are you then at
enmity with your own head and weary of your very
life?"
58 Cf. above, pp. 128-29.
254 TWO QUEENS OF BAGHDAD
above, p. 212.
IN THE HALL OF FAME 255
wakkil (232-57/847-61) took special interest in the
water supply of Mecca and on two different occasions
came to the rescue of the Meccans.60 The history of
Mecca is replete with references to the interest that
royalty and nobility took in the upkeep and repair of
the city's waterworks.61 Of special interest is the case of
the Turkish Sultanah of the household of the Ottoman
emperor, Sulaiman the Magnificent (926-74/1520-66).
She entreated the emperor, as a special favor, for per
mission to undertake extensive and expensive repairs to
the water system that seems to have fallen on bad days
indeed. Her plea was that, since it was a woman, the
cAbbasid Zubaidah, who had first provided the system,
kan, I, 532-33; Yafi0!, II, 63-64; Ibn Batutah, Rihlah, I, 102-3; Wiistenfeld,
op. cit.y II (FasI), pp. 32-35; Ghuzuli, I, 185; SuyutI, TtPrikhy pp. 112-13,
120.
6* Wiistenfeld, op. cit. y III, 115.
6s Ibn Batutah, I, 103.
66 BGA, VII, 268 (says east bank); Yaqut, Irshad, V, 476; Ibn Jubair, op.
cit.y p. 232; Ibn Batutah, I, 103, 140. Herzfeld^ and after him Creswell,
identify Macshuq with the still-existing ruins of cAshiq on the western bank
of the river (K. A. C. Creswell, Early Muslim Architecture [2 vols.; Oxford,
1932 and 1940], II, 364). Cf., however, Jean de Thevenot, Travels (3 vols, in 1;
London, 1686-87), II, 60, according to whom there were, in 1664, two villages
known as cAshiq and Macshuq, that is, "Lover" and "Beloved" of the oral
Arabic tradition; cf. Musil, The Middle Euphrates (New York, 1927), p. 53.
IN THE HALL OF FAME 257
69 Siasset Nameh (Paris, 1891), pp. 126-28, and the translation by Charles
1934). This work, written by a modern Persian who has brought several
Persian texts together, is typical of the Persian point of view on this question.
258 TWO QUEENS OF BAGHDAD
to appraise or to characterize the long-departed Zu-
baidah. One is informed by Ibn al-Tiqtiqa (ca. 7°°/
1300) that she was wiser than her son.71 Ibn Taghri-
birdi, as an exception to the rule, treats the reader to a
brief characterization. "Zubaidah," he writes, "was the
greatest woman of her age in respect to godliness, nobil
ity of birth, beauty, chastity, and benevolence." He
mentions next the Pilgrim Road and the Meccan water
works, the hundred girls who chanted the QurDan in her
palace, her large retinue of servants, and the great
pomp of her establishment under all three caliphs—
Harun, Amrn, and Ma^mun. "She was," concludes his
account, "in addition to being beautiful and glorious,
eloquent, intelligent, wise, and farsighted."72
Coming down to modern times, one finds that the
archeological interest in her tomb is overshadowed by a
wider interest, among Easterners and Westerners alike,
in her Pilgrim Road and Meccan waterworks. Testi
mony is given to one, or the other, or both of these
projects, by several venturesome Western scholars and
travelers who, in one guise or another, either trod the
Zubaidah Road or quenched their thirst at her fountains
in Mecca and c Arafat. Among the earlier references is
that of the Spanish Moslem traveler of the first decade
of the nineteenth century. Burckhardt, visiting Mecca
in the next decade, refers to the initial construction as
undertaken by Zubaidah as "a work of vast labor and
magnitude."73 Snouck Hurgronje, visiting Mecca in the
f1 Fakhriy p. 295. 72 Ibn Taghribirdi, I, 631-32.
73 Travels in Arabia (2 vols.; London, 1829), I, 194-96. Cf. The Travels
of Alt Bey {Badia y Leblich) (2 vols.; Philadelphia, 1816), II, 53, 84.
IN THE HALL OF FAME 259
Musa c Abdallah Mohammed c Ubaid Allah c Abbas Umm al-Fadl = Mohammed ibn CA1I al-Rida Umm Habtb = CA1I al-Rida
I I
(cAbbasids) Mohammed
I
(cAlids)
FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS OF CHIEF CHARACTERS
Index
Index
cAbbas ibn cAbd Allah, 215 Abu Khalaf (Zubaidah's monkey),
c Abbas ibn al-Aljnaf, 143, 152, 161 168, 216
c Abbasah (sister of Harun), 21, 144, Abu Nuwas, 146, 167, 206, 211-12,
Nahr Maimun, 238 Rablc ibn Yunus, 70, 77-80, 83, 85-
87, 95-96
Nahrawall, al-, 112
Radhdh, 73, 75, 248
Nahrawan, 226
Rafi c ibn Laith, 202, 204
Natifi, 146-47
Raghib al-Isbahanl, 9, 37
Nawawl, 41
Rabim (concubine of HadI), 66
Niebuhr, Carsten, 249
Rabim (concubine of Mahdi), 21
Nizam al-Mulk, 257
Raitah (wife of Mahdi), 11, 25, 34,
Noldeke, Theodor, 2, 40
38-40,47, 49,51,98,111,125
Nuwairi, 9
Raitah the Harithite, 10-11
Ramlah, 120
Oppenheim, 249
Raqqah, vi, 142, 148, 162-63, 181,
Palestine, 120 199, 202, 205-7, 2I 7> ^24-25
238
Palmer, Edward H., 112,153, 171
Rashid; see Harun al-Rashid
Persia (Persians), 5, 34, 174, 201-2
Rawlinson, H. C., 249
208, 216, 219, 223-26, 238-40
257 Rayy, 23-24, 29,109,162, 239
[ PRINTED
IN U S A
"I
J