Al-Khalīfa Al-Marḍī: The Accession of Hārūn Al-Rashīd

Al-Khalīfa Al-Marḍī: The Accession of Hārūn Al-RashīdAuthor(s): Michael BonnerSource: Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 108, No. 1 (Jan. - Mar., 1988), pp. 79-91Published by: American Oriental SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/603247 .

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AL-KHALIFA AL-MARDI: THE ACCESSION OF HARUN AL-RASHID

MICHAEL BONNER

CORNELL UNIVERSITY

Dirhams struck at al-Hariniyya at the beginning of the reign of Harfin al-Rashid bear the title al-khalhfa al-mardT This phrase, like its predecessors al-khalrfa al-mahdT and al-khalhfa al-hddT, marks a stage of transition between epithet and regnal title. But why does the word al-mardT occur here?

The protracted struggle which took place between the two sons of the caliph al-MahdT provides clues to this mystery. Several important military men who figured in that struggle are also named on coins of al-HarUniyya. It emerges that the northwestern frontier area constituted a base of support for Harun, or (more accurately), the Barmakids. We find evidence for the beginnings of a conflict pitting entire sections of the Caliphate against one another-a picture unlike the one usually presented for the accession of Harun.

Harun is referred to as rashidan mar~Iiyyan at the moment of his succession. The epithet al- mardT suggests an imam who will reunite a divided umma. After the succession crisis, it quickly disappears in favor of al-rashTd, an epithet more similar in character to al-mahdT and al-hdd.

HXRUON AL-RASHID SUCCEEDED TO THE CALIPHATE

on the night of 16 Rabic I, 170 (14 September 786). The coins of al-Haruiniyya struck at the beginning of his reign have a feature which is absolutely unique: though they belong to the reign of Hariin (they bear the legend mimma amara bihi Hdrun amTr al-mu'- minTn), they refer to that sovereign as al-khalhfa al- mardT, not al-khalhfa al-rashTd, as we should expect. Why does this title appear only on coins of this mint, located in the thughCur al-Sham?l And what does it

mean? Numismatic scholars have not solved these questions,2 which are as much historical as numismatic. A fresh look at the sources, together with some of the coins of al-Haruiniyya, may provide new in- sights into political and military developments both in the northwestern frontier area and in the heart of the Caliphate itself.

The coins bearing the title al-khalhfa al-mardT are all silver dirhams, and fall into three distinct issues. Like other cAbbasid coins of this period, they all have the obverse legend lI ilidha illd / 'lldhu wahdahu / la- sharTka lahu ("There is no god but / God alone / with no associate"). The reverse margin of these dirhams is derived from Qur'an 9:33.

' On the identity, location and historical context of this site, see my forthcoming paper, "Hariinabad and al-Haruniyya," which includes a complete catalogue of the coins of al- Haruniyya. The conclusions of that paper must here be assumed, namely, that Harunabad and al-Haruniyya were one and the same place, located in the thughuir al-Sham, and that the mint of Armenia was moved to that location at least for the years 168-172. 1 would like to express my thanks to the following scholars who have helped me with their advice: Dr. Michael Bates, Curator of Islamic Coins, the American Numismatic Society; Professors Michael Cook, Andras Hamori, and Bernard Lewis of Princeton University; Pro- fessor Roy Mottahedeh of Harvard University; Mr. David Eisenberg of the University of Virginia; Dr. Yeshayahu Goldfeld of Bar Ilan University; Professor Etan Kohlberg of the Hebrew University; and Dr. N. D. Nicol. This paper

originated in the 1985 summer seminar of the American Numismatic Society, and I am very grateful to the staff of the Society for their help.

2 Contributions were made in the nineteenth century by C. M. Fraehn (Recensio numorum muhammedanorum aca- demiae imp. scient. petropolitanae [St. Petersburg, 1826], No. *133 [p. 11*]; Nova supplementa [Opusculorum post- umorum pars prima, ed. B. Dorn, St. Petersburg, 1855], No. 133a [p. 12]; and other publications, now unavailable, quoted at length in W. Tiesenhausen, Monety vostochnavo Khali- fata [St. Petersburg, 1873], Nos. 1117-19, 1142); and by

79



80 Journal of the American Oriental Society 108.1 (1988)

1. 170 al- H arUniyya [Illustration I]

Reverse legend:

Jarir

IJJ I \ Muhammad is the Messenger of God

F I *&L&I The Caliph al-MardT

a)_ 9_ - I L 4 At the Command of Harfin

* j I I Commander of the Faithful

Obverse margin:

& | I Inthenameof God.

^ a~,A.. g_*JL I I so , This dirham was struck in al-Haruniyya

*_ .Ad . ... * *---- in the year 170.3

2. 170 al-Hdariniyya [Illustration 2]

Reverse legend:

L.>) Raj a'

Jib) A, Muhammad is the Messenger

4J1 11 <I l 11of God, God's Blessings

&L ^ . I c upon him and Peace

i, - JI *T q 1- II The Caliph al-Mardi

J. G. Stickel (Handbuch zur morgenlandischen Miinzkunde [Das GroJiherzogliche orientalischen Munzcabinet zu Jena, Leipzig, 1845], pp. 86-90). Since then there has been little progress. E. Zambaur in his Mknzprdgungen des Islams (Munich, 1943, repr. Wiesbaden, 1968, p. 263), could only comment: "Auch die gelehrten AusfUhrungen Fraehns erhel- len nicht das Dunkel dieses Namens."

3 Tiesenhausen, Monety vostochnavo Khalifata, No. 1118; H. NUtzel, Kanigliche Museen zu Berlin. Katalog der orien-

talischen Miinzen (Berlin, 1898), 1, No. 1240; i. and C. Artuk, Istanbul Arkeoloji Miizeleri Teshirdeki islami sikkeler katalogu (Istanbul, 1970), 1, No. 252 (-1. Artuk, Denizbaci Definesi [Ankara, 1966], No. 380); G. C. Miles, Rare Islamic Coins (New York, 1950), No. 233 (pp. 60-61, a coin in the Wood Collection of the American Numismatic Society [ANS]); ANS 17.216.217 (illustrated below). Jarir, who has not been identified, was probably an official in the mint or in the provincial government.



BONNER: Al-Khalifa Al-MardTl: The Accession of Hdriin Al-RashTd 81

Obverse margin:

LJJII P ^ In the name of God.

_Jo-L. -,iJ I I A m This dirham was struck in al-Haruniyya

* . 0 *

~~~in the year 170.4

3. 171 al-Harfiniyya

Reverse legend:

u) RajdD

J^,^,) _0 Muhammad is the Messenger

&JJ I L I of God, God's Blessings

A upon him and Peace

,_W 'I i I_-11 The Caliph al-MardT

Obverse margin:

' .... In the name of God.

j _^J I I Ziz This dirham was struck in al-Harfiniyya

n the years 1 7 1L'

4 Tiesenhausen, Monety, No. 1117, citing Fraehn, Samm- lung kleiner Abhandlungen and MS XXXVIII, fol. 65; Fraehn, Recensio No. *133 (p. 11*); Stickel, Handbuch, pp. 86-87; S. Lane-Poole, Catalogue of Oriental Coins in the British Museum (London, 1875-1890), 1, No. 230 (illustrated below). S. Lane-Poole, Catalogue of the Collection of Arabic Coins Preserved in the Khedivial Library at Cairo (London, 1897), No. 397 (=N. D. Nicol et al., Catalog of the Islamic Coins, Weights, Dies and Medals in the Egyptian National Library, Cairo [Malibu, 1982], No. 1084); NUtzel, Kdrnigliche Museen zu Berlin, Nos. 1241, 1242; B. Dorn, Inventaire des monnaies des Khalifes orientaux (St. Petersburg, 1877), No. 183; Cor- pus nummorum saeculorum IX- XI qui in Suecia reperti sunt (Stockholm, 1975-), 1.2 Bjorke, No. 8 (p. 82); W. al-Qazzaz,

"Al-Dirham al-'abbasT fT zaman khalTfatayn al-MahdT wa'l- HadT," Sumer XX (1964), pp. 78-79 (No. 8510); Artuk, Denizbaci Definesi, No. 381.

Kajd- could be a proper name, like Jarir. See Stickel, Handbuch, p. 89, for an imaginative attempt to read this word together with the mysterious letters in the last line of the inscription, as rajd' hayyin, a greeting to the new caliph. Stickel then encountered difficulties with the last two letters, but managed to interpret them, with the help of Freytag's Lexicon, as baw', salvum sis, a greeting of sorts. What these letters mean remains a mystery.

5 Tiesenhausen, Monetv, No. 1142, citing Fraehn, Bull. Scient., I, p. 100; Fraehn, Recensio, No. *133 (p. 11*); Stickel, Handbuch, pp. 86-87; Lane-Poole, British Museum,




THE TITLE "AL-KHALIFA AL-MARDI"

The Arabic letters which we read as al-mardT could also be read as al-murdT. The difference would not be great: either vocalization would yield the sense, generally accepted among numismatic scholars, of "pleasing [to God]," or, as Fraehn put it, gratus acceptusque, probatus, Deo scil.6 However, al-mardT is more likely to be the correct vocalization. The word mardT is a passive participle defined by

Lane as "found pleasing, well pleasing, contenting ... or chosen, or preferred." It follows the pattern set by the passive participles mansuir and mahd7. It is also considered a synonym of the verbal noun ridan, which can bear the sense of "a man, and a people, or party, with whom one is pleased," etc.7 And whereas the word murdin (or al-murd1T) never appears in the Qur'an, we find the word mardTin SUrat Maryam, in an appropriate context.

And mention in the Book Moses [Muisa] he was devoted, and he was

a Messenger, a Prophet We called to him from the right side of the Mount, and we brought him

near in communion. And we gave him his brother Aaron [Hdruin], of

Our mercy, a Prophet.

And mention in the Book Ishmael [Isma'll]; he was true to his promise, and he was

a messenger, a Prophet. He bade his people to pray and to give alms, and he was

pleasing to his Lord [wa-kana 'inda rabbihi mardiyyan].8

The caliph's laqab, or regnal title9 is a regular feature of 'Abbasid coins. Later on, when these titles took the standard form of "an adjectival phrase quali- fying the holder and formulating a relationship to God, with Whose name the formula ends,"'? coins were struck with the caliph's full title standing by itself, e.g., al-mutawakkil 'ala 'lidh. For this earlier period, however, we find coins struck with the phrases al-khahlfa al-mahdT, al-khahlfa al-hadT, and so on. As Miles wrote:

On 'Abbasid dirhems "al-khallfah" first appears under al-MahdT in 159 H. and appears sporadically there- after on dirhems of al-Hadi and Haruin al-RashTd.... It does not appear on al-Amin's dirhems, but it reappears on those issues of al-Ma'mUn's which carry the long legend announcing al-Rida as heir apparent. On the coins of the succeeding Caliphs the title is omitted and only the Caliph's name is given.''

There are also extant coins struck during the caliphate of al-Manstr, in which the word al-mahdT figures more as an epithet than as a title: mimmd amara bihi al-mahdT Muhammad ibn amTr al-mu'- minTn.'2 The style al-khahlfa al-mahdT, al-khahlfa al-

I, No. 231; NUtzel, Konigliche Museen, I, No. 1243; Dorn,

!nventaire, No. 193; C. J. Tornberg, Numi cufici regii

numophylacii holmiensis (Uppsala, 1848), No. 136. 6 Fraehn, Recensio, No. 133 (p. I I*).

Lane, Lexicon, p. 1 100, s.v. mar~Iiyy and ridan. The

active participle rddin has this sense as well. Cf. Wright, A Grammar of the Arabic Language (Cambridge, 1955), 1, 132C (nomen patientis used in place of the nomen verbis). For the titles al-murtadi and al-rddi, see al-Still, Akhbdr al-

RddT wa'l-Muttaqi (Cairo, 1935), pp. 2-3; French translation by M. Canard (Algiers, 1946), pp. 50-53.

8 19:51-55 (Arberry translation, I, 334-35). Some early

tafsir may shed light on this passage. Tabarli (Jdmi' al-baydn

[BUIlaq, 1321], XVI, 72) says only: Wa-kana cinda rabbihi

marg.iyyan 'amalahu mahmzidan f imd kallafahu rabbuhu

ghayra maqsurin fT td'atihi. TabarT cites no sources for this.

However, the early commentary of Muhammad b. al-Sad'ib

al-Kalb! (66/685-146/763), in the tradition of Ibn 'Abbas (in

the version of al-F-iruizabadl, Al-Miqbds f l tafsir Ibn Abbds

[Cairo, 1951], ad loc., see F. Sezgin, GAS, I, 27, 34-35) has

simply mardiyyan sdlihan. The word sdlih means "pious,"

but might also mean "suitable, fit to rule," as in man yasluhu

lil-khildfa. See Mubarrad, Al-Kdmil, ed. W. Wright (Leipzig,

1864), I, 5, 1. 18, where Abu Bakr is told on his deathbed:

fa-walidhi ma zilta sdlihan muslihan ("You have been the

right man doing the right things"). 9 See B. Lewis, "The Regnal Titles of the First Abbasid

Caliphs," Dr. Zakir Husain Presentation Volume (New Delhi,

1968), pp. 13-22; G. E. Miles, "Al-Mahdi al-Haqq, AmIr

al-Mu'minin," Revue Numismatique 6e serie, VII (1965),

pp. 329-41; F. Omar, Abbdsiyydt (Baghdad, 1976), pp. 141-

47; C. E. Bosworth, "Lakab," EI2, V, 618ff., especially 620-

21; 'A.-'A. al-Dunf, "Al-Fikra al-mahdiyya bayna 'l-da'wa

al-'abbasiyya wa'l-'asr al-'abbasi al-awwal," Studia Arabica

et Islamica. Festschrift for Ihsdn Abbds, ed. W. al-Qadi

(Beirut, 1981), pp. 123-32 (Arabic); P. Crone and M. Hinds,

God's Caliph (Cambridge, 1986), pp. 80ff. 10 Lewis, "Regnal Titles," p. 13.

Miles, "Al-Mahd! al-Haqq," p. 337. 2 G. E. Miles, A Numismatic History of Rayy (New York,

1938), pp. 26-38. This titulature survives in some coins

issued during al-Mahdi's caliphate, e.g., ibid., p. 39 (mimmd

amara bihi al-mahdi Muhammad amir al-mu'minin).



BONNER: Al-Khalhfa Al-MardT: The Accession of Hdruin Al-RashTd 83

hadT, al-khalhfa al-rashTd was thus not the only form of titulature to appear on early 'Abbasid coins. None- theless, it was the style which occurred most often in the reigns of the caliphs who bore those three titles.

Naturally, these titles stress legitimacy; the gram- matically dominant half of the phrase al-khalTfa al- mahdT is al-khalhfa. But while the entire phrase has become something like a regnal title, the word al- mahdT within that phrase has retained its original character of adjective or epithet. This style of titulature appears on coins during the very same period in which epithets (mahdT, hddT, rashTd, etc.) once freely applied to caliphs, both Umayyad and cAbbdsid,l3 and even to prophets,'4 evolved into formal regnal titles. It seems to mark a stage of transition, combin- ing the qualities of epithet and of title.

Two dirhams of an unknown 'Alid rebel, dated by Miles to either the caliphate of al-Rashld or to that of al-Ma'mtin, give eloquent demonstration of the nature of these titles. Both coins are struck with the phrase al-khalhfa al-rashTd, followed by fragments of the rebel's name."5 The word al-rashTd thus retained enough of the character of an adjective that another person could appropriate it to his own use. Miles suggested that here

Al-rashid does not refer to the Caliph Harin but is to be understood in the basic sense of the adjective, "following the right way," "having the true faith," in other words, "the legitimate Caliph unnamed."'6

It may be that this would-be caliph appropriated the title al-khalifa al-rashTd as if deliberately to say "I, and not Hartn, am the true al-khal-fa al-rashTd." This would not change the force behind this title, best expressed in Miles' phrase "the legitimate Caliph unnamed."

Now we may turn to the enigma of the title al- khalTfa al-mardT. Three theories were proposed in the nineteenth century to solve it.

I) Fraehn suggested that al-mardT was actually HarUn's first title, subsequently changed to al-rashTd, just as al-Mutawakkil was reportedly called al- Muntasir for the first day of his reign.'7 The written

sources are unanimous in using only al-rashTd as an official title; according to TabarT'8 this title was granted to HarUn in 166. Furthermore, in 170 all mints of the Caliphate, other than al-HarUniyya, began to strike coins bearing the title al-rashTd, immediately upon the accession of Hartn. All this tends to dis- credit this theory.

2) Fraehn then proposed that al-Mardi was Ja'far b. al-HadT, who would somehow have established himself at al-HarUniyya as the focus of local opposition to Harin; an opposition cut short by the unfortunate boy's murder a few months after he had renounced his own claim to the caliphate. The very continuity of the name al-Haru-niyya argues against this theory. Fraehn himself rejected both these hypotheses. 19

3) Stickel found that the HarUniyya/al-Mardi series of coins shows the mark of a single directing hand.

The city Haruniyya stood in a closer relation to Harun than did other cities of the empire. He had founded it when he was crown prince, had stayed there during his campaigns against the Greeks, it was named after him; and in the first year of his reign he raised the district to which it belonged to the status of

20 an independent province.

Al-HarUniyya, while located in the thughzir al- Sham, was connected (numismatically and admini- stratively, if not geographically) to the province of Armenia. The strange history of the Harutniyya coin- age is also bound up with the reorganization of the thughuir which occurred in the first year of HarUn's caliphate.2' Since 163, HarUn had been governor or viceroy of "the Maghrib, Armenia and Azerbaijan," with Yahya b. Khalid b. Barmak in charge of his chancery.22

The following pages will attempt to show that the power struggle which took place in the Islamic empire in the reigns of al-Mahdi and of al-Hadi was closely

'3 P. Crone and M. Hinds, God's Caliph (Cambridge, 1986), pp. 36-37, 80-81.

14 Ibid., p. 56. 5 Miles, "Al-Mahd! al-Haqq," pp. 330-31 ff. 6Ibid., p. 338.

1 Mas'Ud1, Muruij al-dhahab, ed. C. Baibier de Meynard and P. de Courteille (Paris, 1861-77), VII, 189; rev. ed. C. Pellat (Beirut, 1966-1979), V, 5. At TabarT, Ta'rikh al-

rusul wa'l-muluik, ed. M. J. de Goeje cum aliis (Leiden, 1879-98), III, 1369, Ibn Zayyat proposes al-muntasir, but al-mutawakkil wins the day.

III, 506. '9 Fraehn's two theories are set down in sources which are

now unavailable, but are cited at length by: Stickel, Hand- buch, pp. 88-89, citing Sammlung kleiner Abhandlungen, p. 4; and Tiesenhausen, Monetv, No. 1117, also citing Bull. scient., 1, pp. 100-101, No. 3, and MS XXXVIII, fol. 65, recto, No. 118.

20 Handbuch, pp. 88-89. 21 See "Haranabad and al-Haraniyya." 22 Tabari, III, 500.




connected with these administrative changes in the northwestern frontier provinces. If this proves correct, then Stickel's contention-that al-Hariniyya in the thughuir al-Shdm was a focal point of sympathy, or a military base, for the young HarUn and his partisans-will be vindicated, and the history of that power struggle will have to be revised.

THE SUCCESSION TO AL-MAHDI AND TO AL-HADI

The struggle over the succession which took place during the reigns of al-Mahdi and al-HadT may be summarized as follows.23 Muhammad al-Mahdi, who had succeeded to the caliphate on 6 Dhti 'I-Hijja 158 (7 October 775), made his elder son Milsa heir apparent in 160, bestowing on him the regnal title al-hadd. However, al-Mahdi soon showed signs of preferring his younger son Hartn. In 163 Hartn, a young ado- lescent, was sent to lead an expedition into Byzantine territory (the Samali expedition). Yahya b. Khalid b. Barmak and Khalid b. Barmak himself were assigned to accompany the young prince as advisors and administrators. Upon returning to Baghdad, Harfin was made governor of the Maghrib, Armenia and Azerbaijan with Yahya in charge of his chancery. In 165 HarUn led another expedition, this time reaching the Bosphorus. The Empress Irene agreed to pay tribute (jizya).

This demonstration of vigor and prowess made HarUn a great favorite. In 166 he was declared successor to Mtisa, with the regnal title al-rashTd. Mfisa was sent east to Jurjan in 167. In 168, al-MahdT decided to replace MUsa with Hartn, but found MUsa unwilling to comply. Accompanied by Hartn, al-MahdT set off for Jurjan in 169. On 22 Muharram (4 August 785), al-MahdT died suddenly and unexpectedly, in Masa- badhan. MUsa therefore succeeded to the caliphate, with no resistance from HarUn, who became his heir apparent. MUsa confirmed Yahya in his position con- trolling Armenia, Azerbaijan and the Maghrib.

However, a division had already become apparent between the two brothers and their supporters. The reader of Tabari's account of these events gains the impression that Mfisa al-Hadi had on his side all the great generals (quwwad) and the mawdl of the administration, whereas Harun, described as rather unambitious and lazy at the time, had on his side only his mother al-Khayzurdn and the Barmakids.24 How- ever, the Barmakids refused to give up, or to allow HarUn to retire from the struggle. In an atmosphere of intrigue (mainly involving al-Hadi and the Queen Mother al-Khayzuran, and the growing hostility between them), HarUn's position gradually grew worse. On the urging of the quwwdd, Mfisa finally removed HarUn from the succession in favor of his own son Ja'far. According to some accounts, Harfin (and/or Yahya) was imprisoned.

But at this point HarUn won the contest, with MUsd al-Hadd dying suddenly under mysterious circum- stances. The accession of Harfin al-Rashild (al-Mardi?) took place on the night of al-HadT's death. The young Ja'far was quickly forced to renounce his own claim.

In what sense did HdrUn's and Yahya's position in "the Maghrib, Armenia and Azerbaijan" involve real bases of support in their contest with Mfisa and the quwwdd?

The coins of the province Arminiya do not show with any precision what this power of Harfin and the Barmakids in the northwestern provinces actually entailed.25

Coins of Ifriqiya name Harfin regularly (mimmd amara bihi Hdruin ibn amTr al-mu'minTn), beginning in 164.26 We do not find HarUn mentioned on coins of Armenia until 168, when the Armenia/ Hartinabad/al- Haruniyya series begins. However, the Armenia/al- Haruniyya coins do bear the names of several men who figure prominently in events in Baghdad during this struggle, and whose presence in or involvement with Armenia and the thughar must be accounted for.

Khuzayma b. Khazim is well known both to Arabic and to Armenian sources. He apparently became governor of Armenia in 169, during the reign of al- Mahdi. Upon the death of al-Mahdi and the accession of al-Hadi, Khuzayma remained in office, issuing

23 This sketch is based primarily on Ya'quibl, Ta'rikh, ed.

M. Th. Houtsma (Leiden, 1883); Tabari, Ta'rTkh al-rusul

wa'l-muluk; Mas'UdT, Muruj al-dhahab; and on S. Moscati,

"Studi storici sul califfato di al-Mahdl," Orientalia XIV

(1945), pp. 309--18; idem, "Nuovi studi storici sul califfato di

al-MahdT," Orientalia XV (1946), pp. 158-61; idem, "Le

califat d'al-Hadl," Studia Orientalia XIII.4 (Helsinki, 1946);

N. Abbott, Two Queens of Baghdad (Chicago, 1946),

pp. 54-112; A. Chejne, Succession to the Rule in Islam

(Lahore, 1963), pp. 89-92; and H. Kennedy, The Earlv

Abbasid Caliphate (London, 198 1), pp. 106-13.

24 E.g., Tabari, III, 572-73. Cf. Kennedy, Early Abbasid

Caliphate, p. 111; Abbott, Two Queens of Baghdad,

pp. 64-65. 25 See "Hdrundbdd and aI-Hdruniyya." 26 Tiesenhausen, Monety, Nos. 957, 958, 977, 999, 1018,

1046, 1086.



BONNER: Al-Khalhfa Al-MardT: The Accession of Hdrtin Al-Rashid 85

silver and bronze coins which bear his name and that of the caliph al-HadT.27

Khuzayma must have been dismissed from his position in Armenia at the end of 169 (see below). But in the following year (170), we find him playing a major role in the events of the night on which Misa al-HadT died and Hariin al-Rash-d became caliph. With his 5000 armed followers (min mawilfhi macahum al- silah), Khuzayma dragged al-Hadi's son and then heir apparent, Ja'far, out of bed, and forced the boy to renounce his claim in favor of Haruin.28

Not surprisingly, Khuzayma became a great favorite of the new caliph.29 He was rewarded afterwards with another governorship of Armenia, where he remained from 187 until 191.30 But for now, we may probably assume that Khuzayma and his 5000 armed thugs were already partisans of Haruin during their previous stay in Armenia.

For his first governorship, Khuzayma's name appears only on coins issued in 169.3' In two Haruiniyya issues, dated respectively 169 and 170, we find Khuzayma replaced by Yazild b. Mazyad.32 These two issues are practically identical except for their dates, and may thus be said to "straddle" the turn of the year. They also have a strange feature: they bear the executive phrase mimma amara [bihi] YazTd b. Mazyad, "struck at the command of Yaz1-d b. Maz- yad."33 On all previous coins of Haruinabad and al- Haruiniyya this phrase occurs with the words Haran ibn amfr al-mu'minin, in accordance with that prince's position as governor of the western provinces. In general, during the early 'Abbasid period, we find this

phrase mimma amara bihi used on silver dirhams by sovereigns, by heirs to the throne, by governors (close in blood to the sovereign) ruling over a group of provinces, and by revolutionaries. Provincial governors use this phrase, but only on bronze coins.34 YazT-d b. Mazyad seems therefore to have usurped Hariin's prerogative on these coins.

Much is known, or at any rate written, about this Yazild b. Mazyad, but little of this helps to explain the appearance of his name on these coins of al-HarUniyya. YazT-d achieved fame as a warrior and as a patron of fawning poets.35 But for this earlier part of his career we have only scanty information. In 160 he defeated and captured the rebel Yusuf al-Barm in Khurasan.36 He played a heroic role in Hariin's Byzantine campaign of 165, meeting "Niqlta qumis al-qawamisa" in single combat and unhorsing him, thereby causing a rout among the Romans." In 167 he is reported as MUsa al-HadT's chief commander in the East.38 Yaz-ld then became one of the leaders of Misa's party. Tabari and Jahshiyari mention him as one of the quwwdd who in 170 urged MWis to remove Haran in favor of MUsa's own son Ja'far.39

According to the TiirTkh al-Bab, Yazi-d ended his rather interesting career as the first Sharvan- shah.40 But what was he doing in Armenia in 169 and 170? Armenian sources confirm that Yaz1-d was indeed governor of Armenia at about this time.4' Arabic sources are uninformative about when Yazfd's

27 Tiesenhausen, Monety, Nos. 1088, 1089, 1093. See catalogue in "Hariinabad and al-Haruniyya."

28 Tabari III, 602-3; Kennedy, Early Abbasid Caliphate, pp. 112-13.

29 "Ein grosser Gtinstling Harun's." Stickel, Handbuch, p. 81.

30 R. Vasmer, Chronologie der arabischen Statthalter von Armenien unter den Abbasiden, von al-Saffach bis zur Kronung Aschots I., 750-887 (Vienna, 1931), p. 41. See also Tiesenhausen, Monety, No. 1077.

3' The year and two months allotted him by al-Ya'qubl (II, 515) may therefore be too long-though not necessarily so.

32 Tiesenhausen, Monety, No. 1090; Lane-Poole, British Museum, I, No. 140.

33 The word bihi is omitted, even though it seems necessary to the grammar of the phrase (Stickel, Handbuch, p. 81, "der Sprachgebrauch erlaubt dies nicht"). However, Dr. N. D. Nicol has informed me that this construction is not at all rare on coins.

34 E.g., Tiesenhausen, Monety, No. 1093; cf. No. 957 on the use of the phrases walT 'ahd al-muslimln, ibn amTr al- mu'minfn, etc. Cf. Miles, "Al-Mahdi," p. 332.

35 Abii 'l-Faraj al-Isfahani, Kitdb al-aghanT (Bulaq, 1868), XI, 10, 11; XII, 10, 19, 22, 24, 25, and index; Ibn Khallikan, Wafdydt al-acydn, ed. Ihsan 'Abbas (Beirut, 1968), VI, 327-42.

36 Tabari, III, 470-71; Ya'qibli, II, 478-79; Moscati, "Studi," pp. 331-32.

37 Tabari, III, 503-4. This single combat is suspiciously similar to Yazid's more celebrated exploit against the Khari- jite al-Walid b. Tarif in 179 (see below).

3' Tabarfif II, 519. 39 Tabari, III, 527-73; Jahshiydri, Kitab al-wuzard' wa'l-

kuttab (Cairo, 1938), p. 174; Kennedy, Early Abbasid Cali- phate, p. 110.

40 N. D. Nicol, "'Abbasid Provincial Administration, A.H. 132-218 (A.D. 750-833),"dissertation, University of Washing- ton, 1979, p. 100, citing V. Minorsky, ed. and tr., A History of Sharvdn and Darband (Cambridge, 1958), pp. 22-23.

41 Vasmer, Chronologie, p. 29.




governorship began, but do state that it ended in 172.42 A coin of al-Haruiniyya dated 171 clearly shows his name.43 However, from the previous year (170), we also have a coin of al-Haruiniyya which bears the name of Yuisuf (b. Rashid al-SulamT).44 Yuisuf is also well attested as a governor of Armenia, though for a short period. Furthermore, Yuisuf is always described as preceding YazTd in the governorship.45

Vasmer attempted to solve this riddle by suggesting that Yazid occupied a subordinate post under other governors in 169-170: "Vielleicht hat er bereits unter seinen Vorgangern einen administrativen Posten in Armenien eingenommen. '46 But the reverse legends of his coins of 169-170 rule out this possibility. No administrative subordinate, civilian or military, could have used the phrase mimmd amara bihi.

YazTd was on the side of Misa al-HadT in the contest over the succession. Haruin became reconciled with him, at least a few years later: Yazid was chosen in 179 to lead a campaign against the Kharijite al- WalTd b. Tarif (see below). YazTd afterwards held several high positions, and became governor of Ar- menia again in 183.4 But for the years which we are considering (169-171) we face a contradiction. Yazid appears on coins of al-Haruiniyya earlier than we expect; and he remains as governor of Armenia in 171, when by all rights he should be in disgrace.48

Our sources say that Haruin was very lenient with his opponents once he had succeeded to the caliphate.49 It may be the case that Yazid changed sides immediately and convincingly at that moment. But we still cannot explain his earlier presence on coins of Armenia/al-Haruiniyya, during the reign of al-Hadl.

Furthermore, we find that if Haruin was later ready to forgive and forget, the Barmakids remained YazTd's implacable enemies. This much emerges from several "literary" accounts of Yazid's famous expedition against the Kharijite al-WalTd, all of which stress this lasting hostility.50

Yazid's appearance on these coins therefore means that at the end of 169, al-Haruiniyya has gone from the control of a governor (Khuzayma) who favors Hartin and who is allied with the Barmakids,51 to one who favors Muisa al-HadT and who enjoys the Bar- makids' undying enmity.

This is precisely the time (the turn of the year 169- 170) when the struggle between Hariin and Muisa, with their respective followers, was reaching its peak. It should be kept in mind that from the beginning of the Islamic year 170 until the death of Mtisa al-HadT there elapsed only two and a half lunar months.52 It should also be remembered that our principal sources, TabarT and Ya'quibl, frequently contradict one another, and that the many sources and traditions col- lected by TabarT are likewise not all in harmony. We thus find in some sources that Muisa al-HadT, just 42 Tabari, III, 607; Ibn Khallikan, VI, 31-34; Vasmer,

Chronologie, p. 29; Nicol, "Provincial Administration," pp. 100-101.

43 ANS 1972.79.593. The reverse of this coin names both Yazlid and al-khalTfa al-rashid. See "Harfinabad and al- Haruiniyya."

44 H. Lavoix, Catalogue des monnaies musulmanes de la Bibliotheque Nationale. I. Khalifes orientaux (Paris, 1887), No. 744.

45 Yacqiibi, II, 516; Vasmer, Chronologie, p. 29; A. Ter- Ghewondyan, The Arab Emirates in Baghratid Armenia, tr. N. G. Garsoian (Lisbon, 1976), p. 30; Nicol, "Provincial Administration," p. 100.

46 Vasmer, Chronologie, p. 29. 47 Ibid., p. 39. 48 Kennedy, who is unaware of the coins and of Vasmer's

Chronologie, is therefore not entirely correct when he writes: "Most of the military leaders who had advocated the re- moval of Harun from the succession were in temporary disgrace; Abd Allah b. Malik . .. thought it advisable to go on foot to Makka to demonstrate his humility, while Yazid b. Mazyad and 'Ali b. 'Isa were not given any important appointments for the next decade." Early Abbasid Caliphate, p. 116.

49 Tabari, III, 602-3; Mas'uCidi, Muraj (ed. Barbier), VI, 317; (ed. Pellat), IV, 210-11; Kennedy, Early Abbasid Cali- phate, p. 1 16.

50 Abui '1-Faraj, Aghdni, XI, 8-10; Ibn Khallikan, VI, 31ff.; VI, 327ff.; Tabari's version of these events (III, 631, 638) does not mention this enmity. In all these stories, the Bar- makids' intrigues against Yazld fail, as al-Walid defeats and captures each of the generals sent against him. Yazid is then called upon, and saves the day. In one account (Ibn Khal- likan, VI, 31), the first (unsuccessful) expedition is led by one Misa b. Khazim al-Tamimi against the rebel, on Yahya's advice, "for Pharaoh's real name was al-Walid and he was devoured by Miisd." This Misa would appear to be a brother of Khuzayma b. Khazim, our governor of Armenia; however, he is otherwise not attested. In Tabari, we have Ibrahim b. Khazim instead of Misa.

5' The appearance of Ibrahim (or Misa) b. Khazim as a rival for Yazld in 178-79 reinforces this impression. See previous note.

52 Events reported in the chronicles for the reign of al-Hadi in the year 170 must therefore fall into this brief space of time.



BONNER: Al-Khalhfa Al-Mardi: The Accession of Hdrtin Al-Rashid 87

before his own death, imprisoned Haruin but not Yahya, in others that he imprisoned Yahya but not Hariin, elsewhere that he imprisoned both, or neither.

Nevertheless, it clearly emerges that around the turn of the year, HarUn was stripped of his preroga- tives as prince and heir apparent.

Al-Hadd wished to remove Hariin al-Rashid, and to have the bavca sworn to his own son Ja'far b. Mfisa al-HadT. His generals, (quwwdd) who included Yazid b. Mazyad, 'Abdallah b. Malik, 'Ali b. 'Isa and their like, agreed with him. They deposed Harfin and swore the baya to Ja'far b. Miisa. They intrigued against [Haruin's] following (wa-dassui ild 'I-shf'a!), speaking disparagingly in the assembly about Hariin's claim, saying "we are not pleased with him" (la narda bihi). Their activity grew more strident, until it became generally known (wa-sacuba amruhum hattd zahara). Al-Hadd then gave orders that al-RashTd should not be preceded by the staff [or spear] (alld yusdra quddama 'I-rashTdi bi-harbatin). People then avoided him, and no one dared greet him or approach him.53

Harba, short spear or staff, is considered synony- mous with 'anaza, an object which the caliphs carried on ceremonial occasions.:4 Here we have an indication that it was carried by attendants before an heir apparent; but it should also be remembered that Haruin was vested with some form of sovereignty over vast portions of the Caliphate. The harba is taken from him at precisely the same time as the disap- pearance of his name on coins of al-Haruiniyya. He loses his retinue in Baghdad together with his position as governor or viceroy of the Maghrib, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Haruin's name does continue to appear on coins of Ifriqiya until the end of the reign of al-HadT, with the legend mimma amara bihi Hdruin walT 'ahd al- muslimrn.55 However, the distance between Baghdad and Ifriqiya was too great for word of changes made

in the capital to reach that province within so short a time.56

Yaz-ld b. Mazyad figures prominently in these events in Baghdad, precisely at the time when his name appears on coins of al-Haruiniyya. It may therefore be the case that Yazid was an absentee governor at the time (as Haruin himself had been), and became some other kind of governor after Yuisuf b. Rashid. The appearance of his name on these coins at the turn of the year 169-170 may serve more to emphasize Haruin's defeat, than to indicate the administrative realities of the province Armenia.

AL-HARUNIYYA AS STRONGHOLD

The dispute over the succession revolved in large part around the question of to what extent, if at all, the Barmakids and their allies would dominate the government.57 The Barmakid "empire" had become well established during the reign of al-MahdT.58 Yahya b. Khalid's appointment in 163 to the chancery of the Maghrib, Armenia and Azerbaijan constituted an important step in the growth of this "empire."'9 While the Barmakids were civilian administrators, we have seen that they had the cooperation, if not the outright loyalty, of military men such as Khuzayma b. Khazim.60 And it is curious that in Theophanes' account of the great campaign of 165, BournikhT (BarmakT) figures as a great general or warlord, rather than as a financial administrator.

Tabar1, III, 572-73. Cf. Yacqiibl, II, 489-90; Jahshiyarl, pp. 174-75; Moscati, "Califat," pp. 18-19; Kennedy, Early Abbasid Caliphate, pp. 18-19.

54 G. C. Miles, "'Anaza," EI2, I, 482; idem, "Mihrab and cAnaza," Archaeologica orientalia in memoriam Ernst Herz- feld (Locust Valley, NY, 1952), pp. 164-67; D. Sourdel, "Questions de ceremonial cabbaside," Revue des Etudes Islamiques XXVIII (1960), p. 135.

5 Tiesenhausen, Monety, Nos. 1086, 1 100, 1 101.

56 The number of stages between Baghdad and al-Hadath can be reckoned at 27, following Sprenger, Die Post- und reise-routen des Orients (Leipzig, 1864), pp. 91-92, 106-7.

57 Kennedy, Early Abbasid Caliphate, p. 110: "The move to depose Harun had strong support from the military leaders, who had no wish to see a Barmaki-dominated government."

58 Their involvement with the northwest frontier provinces began at the end of al-Mansuir's reign, when Yahya was appointed governor of Azerbaijan. Tabari, III, 383.

59 D. Sourdel, Le vizirat 'abbjside (Damascus, 1959), I, 117-18.

60 Since Rawh b. Hatim proceeded in 169 from the governorship of Armenia to that of Ifrfqiya (a province which also lay under the control of Harfin and Yahya, and which produced a long series of coins bearing Harfin's name), it is possible that he was also part of the same "network." See "Harunabad and al-Haruniyya."

61 Theophanes, Chronographia, ed. de Boor (Leipzig, 1883-85), I, 456. H. Turtledove, in his translation of Theophanes (Philadelphia, 1982), is wrong in rendering "Barmak" instead of "BarmakT." See Moscati, "Studi," p. 316, n. 2.




It is therefore not surprising that when Misa al- Hadd assumed the caliphate in 169, he confirmed Yahya (and not Haran) in his responsibilities for the western provinces, even though the lines separat- ing Misa's partisans from those of Hartin and the Barmakids were already drawn clearly enough. Indeed, Tabari states that Yahya had genuine control over these western provinces, and (most important) could appoint whomever he liked over them as

62 sub-governor.

It is likely that the Barmakids had become too well entrenched in the northwest (including, of course, al- Hariiniyya) for al-HadT to take them on at the beginning of his reign. After a year as caliph, he had gathered enough strength to attempt to remove his brother as heir apparent, and to gain direct control over the provinces under the administration of the Barmakids. The following passage from al-Ya'qilbT should be understood in this context.

Rancor flared up between MUsa and his brother, and

Mcisa resolved to depose him and to make his own

son Jacfar heir apparent. He summoned the generals

(al-quwwadd) for this purpose, but the majority of

them did not make any move, and advised him against

this. However, a few of them were quick to strengthen his resolve in the matter, letting him know that it

would be very bad for the supreme command to fall to

Hadrn. Among those who urged MWis to remove

HarUn was Abil Hurayra Muhammad b. Farrukh al-

Azdi, the military leader (qd'id) of the tribe of Azd.63

Musa sent him with a large army, to march through

al-Jazira, Syria, Egypt and the Maghrib, calling upon

people to depose Harun, and to draw the sword

against anyone who refused to assent to this. Abu

Hurayra went on in this way, until he reached al-

Raqqa, where news reached him of Musa's death.64

Though Armenia and Azerbaijan are not included

on this (already impossibly long) list of target prov-

inces, al-Jazlra came first (and last). This province

must almost certainly be reckoned a part of the

Barmakid "empire."65 Furthermore, al-Raqqa is a

stop on the road to al-Haru-niyya. In any case, this passage indicates the beginnings of armed conflict, perhaps even of civil war.

There is no evidence in the written sources that Hartin ever went to the thughar region or to Armenia during the short reign of al-HadT. When al-MahdT died in Masabadhan, Hartin was traveling with him, and recited the prayer over the grave.66 Hdriin then forestalled a riot in the army, following Yahya's advice, and headed for Baghdad, where he seems to have spent the year of al-Hadi's reign. There is an account in Tabari that as pressure mounted, Hartin (again on Yahya's advice) slipped away to Qasr Muqatil, a place situated "in the desert between 'Ayn Tamr and Syria." Harimn remained there for forty days, after which al- Hadi's threats brought him back.67 Another account describes him hiding in Baghdad.68

Nonetheless, even if Haruin did remain in Baghdad throughout this time, there seems to be reason to believe that a large area to the north and to the west of Iraq constituted a power base for Harutn or, perhaps more accurately, for the Barmakids. The Ar- menian historian Lewond may supply further support for this hypothesis, though admittedly with some stretching. After the death of Mtisa al-Hadi, says Lewond,

The throne of the caliphate was then occupied by

Harun al-Rashid), son of Muhammad (al-Mahdi) and

brother of Musa (al-Hadi). He was a greedy and

avaricious man. During his reign this man had his

brother 'Ubaidullah as his opponent. The tension

between the two resulted in territorial divisions:

[Harun] gave his brother the countries of Atrpatakan

(Azerbaijan) and Armenia, together with Georgia and

Albania. Pursuant to his propense conduct, ['Ubai-

dullah] sent to our country licentious and perverse

62 Tabara, I 1, 545: wa-amara [al-Mahdi] Yahya- b. Khiilid

an yatawall dhAdlika, fa-kdna ilayhi acmdluhu yaqumu bihd

wa-yukhallifu 'ala md yatawall& minhd ili an tuwuffiya. 63 AbU Hurayra appears as a governor of al-Jazira under

al-Hadd in Khalifa b. Khayydt, TlirTkh, ed. al-'Umarn (Najaf,

1967), p. 707. 64 Yacqiibli, II, 489-90.

65 We find earlier on that Harran was a safe place for

Ismacll b. Subayh after he had been caught spying for the

Barmakids in Syria. Tabari, III, 572, 598; Jahshiyari, pp. 168,

199; Sourdel, Vizirat, 1, 136. 66 Tabari, III, 526, 545. 67 Tabari, III, 575; Yaqit, Mu jam al-buldan, ed. Wus-

tenfeld, IV, 121-22 (Qasr Muqatil); Mas'Udi, Murij (ed.

Barbier), VI, 281-82; (ed. Pellat), IV, 192-93 (here al-Hadd

goes chasing after Haran in the Samawa, and falls mortally

ill).

68 Tabari, III, 575. The word armaniyya appears in a

garbled passage at Tabari, III, 601-2, where it refers to an

Armenian prayer-carpet. Ibrahim in the Cairo Tabari (VIII,

232) has printed Irminiya, an alternate form for the name of

the province. In any case, the text seems hopelessly corrupt

here.



BONNER: Al-Khalifa Al-MardT. The Accession of MHran Al-RashTd 89

governors, impious and completely devoid of the fear of God. The first among them was Yazid son of

69 Mazyad....

Harnn's brother 'Ubaydallah did in fact become governor of Armenia in 172, after Yaz1d. However, Lewond's picture is garbled. 'Ubaydallah became governor of Egypt in 179, and thus governed Armenia for seven years at most, and not for the entire reign of Harfin.70 There is not the slightest indication in any of the Arabic sources of any such conflict or usurpa- tion." The coins of al-Haru-niyya show that Yaz-d could not have been appointed by 'Ubaydallah.

Lewond's chronology with respect to the Arab governor of Armenia Khuzayma b. Khazim (169-170) was also wrong, with Khuzayma's governorship described as later than it actually was.72 If we move this pattern forward, transposing events reported for 172 back to 170, and substitute Haruin and Misd for 'Ubaydallah and Hdrfin that is, one fraternal conflict for another we derive a picture which corresponds to what we have already seen: Armenia, Azerbaijan and the Caucasus ruled by Hlrfin or in his name, resisting the central power of Baghdad and his own brother al-HddT.

The Arabic sources often given the impression that the accession of HdrUn al-Rash-id occurred as the result of a neatly executed coup d'ehat pulled off in Baghdad by the Barmakids and al-Khayzurdn. But in fact, these events were somewhat less neat. No civil war between West and East occurred, as would hap-

pen in the following generation.73 However, it seems that a division, represented in large part along geo- graphical lines, did in fact exist, and that turbulence had already begun to spread when al-HadT met his end. It further seems to be the case that al-Hartiniyya did represent, as Stickel noted, a particularly strong focus of support for the young prince Hariln.4

RASHIDAN MARDIYYAN

It has often been stated that in the 'Abbasid revolution (and afterwards) epithets or titles served to conceal the identity of the Imam. The most famous such phrase was, of course, al-rigd min al Muhammad.75

However, the word al-mardT is considered synony- mous with al-rida.i6 Al-Kumayt thus refers to:

bi-mardiyyi 'l-siydsati Hdshimiyyin yakuinu hayyan li-ummatihi rabTcd77

In this struggle over legitimacy and power between the two sons of al-Mahdi, we find many phrases and ideas taken directly from the vocabulary of earlier struggles. For instance, we have seen Hariin's partisans in the succession contest referred to as al-shTa.i8 Accordingly, we now find the word al-mardT on coins at more or less the very moment when Hartin emerges from hiding, prison, or some other form of occultation.

If al-HarUniyya was indeed located in the Syrian thughtir, then like its sister-towns al-Hadath and Mar'ash it would have been garrisoned largely with

69 History of Lewond, tr. Z. Arzoumanian (Philadelphia, 1982), pp. 147-48; Histoire des Guerres et des Conquotes des Arabes en Armenie, tr. G. V. Chahnazarian (Paris, 1856), p. 160.

70 Al-Kindi, Wuldt Misr (Beirut, 1959), p. 162. Chahna- zarian translated: "Pendant tout le temps de son regne [Haroun] eut a lutter contre Ovbedla...."

7' The coins have been thought to lend support to Lewond on this, Vasmer, Chronologie, pp. 29-31; Nicol, "Provincial Administration," p. 101. However, Baladhuri, Futuh al- bulddn, ed. de Goeje (Leiden, 1866), p. 210, names 'Ubay- dallah as successor to Yazi-d as governor. Ya'qiib! does not mention 'Ubaydallah at all. In 175, Al-Fadl b. Yahya the Barmakid became governor of the northwestern region, as attested by Arabic sources (Tabari, 111, 612) and coins (Tiesenhausen, Monety, No. 1197).

72 See "Haruinabad and al-Haruiniyya." In general, Lewond is not scrupulous about such matters. For instance, he describes Maslama's expedition to Constantin(ole as occur- ring in the reign of Hisham.

7 And as had happened in the revolt of 'Abdallah b. 'All in 754.

74 It should now be admitted that court intrigue, while no doubt an important element, has received more than its fair share of attention, both in medieval and modern accounts, of the events which have been described here. It was real power, measured in military and administrative control of cities and provinces, together with political and religious ideology, which carried the day.

75 E.g., R. Mottahedeh, "The 'Abbasid Caliphate in Iran," Cambridge History of Iran, IV, 57-58; M. Sharon, Black Bannersfrom the East (Jerusalem, 1983), pp. 147ff., 157ff.

76 See above, n. 7. 77 "A Hashimi whose government is pleasing [to God] / One

who will be rain and spring to his umma." Al-Kumayt, al- Hashimiyydt, ed. J. Horovitz (Leiden, 1904), p. 154; B. Lewis, "Siyasa," in In Quest of an Islamic Humanism. Arabic and Islamic Studies in Memory of Mohamed al-Nowaihi, ed. A. H. Green (Cairo, 1984), p. 4.

78 See above, n. 53.




KhurasanT soldiers, the backbone of the early 'Abbasid armed forces.79 The following passage from Tabari is a speech delivered to such soldiers in Baghdad, pur- portedly in the early morning hours following the death of al-Had! and the accession of al-Rashid. It has a particularly interesting example of the word mardT, juxtaposed with its rival rashTd.

God in his graciousness and benevolence has bestowed favor upon you, people of the house of His prophet,

the house of the caliphate and the source of prophecy,

and upon you (wa-iyydkum), obedient helpers of the

Dynasty and the Call, out of His blessings whose

number cannot be reckoned and which do not cease

for all eternity, and as part of the perfect help which

He provides, by bringing you together in harmony,

and by raising you to high station, increasing your

strength and weakening your enemies, thereby reveal- ing the Word of Truth of which you have been most

worthy and deserving. God has made you strong, He

Himself being mighty and strong, while you have

become the helpers of God's own preferred religion

(ansdr din Alldh al-murta1dd) and the defenders, with

His drawn sword, of the house of the Prophet, God's

blessing and peace be upon him. Through you he has

defended them from the hands of oppressors, imams

of tyranny, who violated God's covenant, who shed

blood which might not be shed, who devoured and

arrogated to themselves the revenue from spoils (Jay'). Therefore remember this bounty which God has

granted you, and beware of changing your ways, lest

He change your favorable state.

Now God, may He be exalted and extolled, has taken

His caliph Musa al-Had! the Imam unto Himself.

And He has appointed in his stead one who is rightly

guided and pleasing (rashidan mar~1iyyan), benevolent

and merciful towards you, accepting those of you

who act rightly, and inclined to pardon the wrong-

doers among you; one who has promised (may God

grant him His grace, and preserve for him that

supreme command over the umma with which He

favors those who are close to Him and who obey Him

[wa-tawalldhu bimd tawalld bihi awliyvdahu wa-ahl

td'-atihi])-one who has promised from his own part (min nafsihi) that he will show you mercy and com-

passion, and that your pay will be allotted to you when it is due, and that he will grant you as a

donative out of the treasuries which God has bestowed upon the Caliphs, a sum equal to so many months' pay, with no resultant decrease in your regular pay. He undertakes to employ what remains [in the treasury] (Qimilan bdqiya dhalika) in the defense of your womenfolk, and to defend the provincial treasuries from the depredations of cowardly rebels, so that the public treasury may again grow plentiful, and return to its previous condition. Therefore praise God... and give the acclamation of your oaths, and rise to swear fealty, may God protect you....80

In a conflict such as this, with the model of the 'Abbasid revolution always present, the shi ca in question will tend to cast its opponents in the role of the oppressor Umayyads. The reference to fay9 thus re- calls a staple grievance against the Umayyads. None- theless, this passage seems to confirm a picture of fairly widespread unrest. The "imams of tyranny" are, we may imagine, those same quwwdd (Yazld b. Mazyad, Abii Hurayra, et al.) who led al-Hadi's forces, and who apparently did create unrest and conflict in certain provinces. The speaker's reference to the covenant of God (cahd Allah) violated by these imams of tyranny, evokes the deposing of Hariin as heir apparent (walT al-'ahd).

Once the speaker in this passage has pronounced the words rashTdan mar~diyyan, he goes on to char- acterize the new imam, bearer of these epithets, as a man of mercy and compassion. This theme of recon- ciling a divided umma is consistent with the lines of al-Kumayt quoted above, and may provide us with a better understanding of the epithet al-mardT than does the usual interpretation "pleasing to God."

It has been noted recently that the words al-mahdT, al-hadd, al-rashTd, and al-amin, both when used as epithets of the Umayyads and as regnal titles of the 'Abbasids, had "a strong redemptive overtone." 81 However, the epithets al-rigd and al-mardT seem to have a different weight: while they may have their own "redemptive overtone,"82 they may also connote harmony and reconciliation.83 And just as al-rikd was

79 Khurasdni troops were frequently sent to this area during

the reign of al-Mahdi. See Balddhuri, Futuh, pp. 162, 166,

168, 169; Lewond, p. 134.

Tabari, 111, 599-601. x Crone and Hinds, God's Caliph, pp. 80-81; cf. Dunf,

"Al-Fikra al-mahdiyya," p. 127. 82 Duiri, "Al-fikra al-mahdiyya," p. 128, cites a passage (Al-

Khatib al-Baghdadl, TdrTkh Baghddd, X, 46) where AbN

I-'Abbas is called al-murtadd wa I-qd'im.

X See now P. Crone, "The Meaning of the 'Abbasid Call to

al-Ridd," forthcoming in Historian of the Middle East:

Essayvs in Honor of Bernard Lewis (Princeton). Here it is



BONNER: Al-Khalifa Al-MardT: The Accession of Hdriin Al-Rashid 91

used as an epithet, but not as a regnal title, for the first 'Abbasid caliphs,84 so we find al-mardS used as a regnal title on HarUn's coins only at the time of crisis. Once unity has been restored, this word disappears in favor of the already prevalent al-rashTd, an epithet which, like its predecessors al-mahdT and al-hddc, designates one who follows the true path, and who should be followed by Muslims who seek salvation. The short life of al-mardT is perhaps not to be ascribed

to its local character,85 so much as to the fact that it did not have enough of the "redemptive" character expected of these early 'Abbasid titles.

Like Stickel, we may discern a unifying, directing hand in this adroit use of some of the most loaded vocabulary of the day. Not a soul in the Abode of Islam remained ignorant of who Hariin was, or of his conflict with his brother Musa. Accordingly, this epithet did not serve to conceal Hariin's identity. Rather, it presented him as the Imam who brings peace and reconciliation to a divided community; as al-Mardi, the forgiving, merciful ruler pleasing to God, "the legitimate Caliph unnamed."

argued that al-riidd meant the imam chosen by shiTrd, hence by an elective rather than a dynastic principle.

84 By the time of 'All al-Rid,, the transition from epithet to regnal title was nearly complete. Al-Ma'mun may have been trying to recapture some of the old flavor of the epithet: his coins announcing 'All al-Rida as heir apparent use the obsolete titulature (al-khalTfa al-ma'min, see above, n. 11), just as the document of succession revives the Umayyad theory of the Caliphate (see Crone and Hinds, God's Caliph,

pp. 94-96).

85 Stickel's suggestion (Handbuch, p. 89) that this was an official title favored by the populace of al-Hariiniyya must be rejected, simply because the titles on Islamic coins are pre- scribed by rulers or administrators, and in any case not by populaces.

Fig. 1. American Numismatic Society 17.216.217. Fig. 2. Catalogue of Oriental Coins in the British Museum, I, No. 230.



Al-Khalīfa Al-Marḍī: The Accession of Hārūn Al-Rashīd

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