After the defeat of Caliph al-Amin's army at the Battle of Ray (811) and the death of his commander Ali ibn Isa ibn Mahan,[1] the armies of al-Amin were in retreat moving west from Iran to Iraq back to their base camp at Baghdad. Al-Ma'mun's general Tahir ibn Husayn, the victor of Battle of Rayy decided to chase the retreating army. However, reinforcements from Baghdad arrived under the able leadership of Abd al-Rahman ibn Jabala.[2] Abd al-Rahman decided to fortify himself behind the walls and gates of Hamadan. But when Tahir ibn Husayn came closer to the city, Abd al-Rahman decided to come out and meet this threat head on. Twice Abd al-Rahman was driven back into the city. Tahir ibn Husayn began a blockade of the city and Abd al-Rahman’s forces began to shower arrows and throw stones from the city walls. Eventually Abd al-Rahman was obliged to leave and ask for terms due to resentment of the people of Hamadan at the occupation and rapidly depleting supplies.[2]
Tahir ibn Husayn, realizing that Abd al-Rahman ibn Jabala had left the city, decided not to waste further time in Hamadan and marched westward towards Baghdad. On his way, he reached a certain pass named Asadabad where his army was ambushed by Abd al-Rahman ibn Jabala. The surprise attack caught Tahir’s troops off guard. But because the army was well disciplined the infantry managed to hold them off until Tahir ibn Husayn’s cavalry was ready to attack. In the ensuing confusion Abd al-Rahman ibn Jabala who had dismounted his horse was killed and his army defeated.[2]
After the short delay, Tahir ibn Husayn began his march towards Baghdad again. The news of the defeat of first Ali ibn Isa ibn Mahan and now Abd al-Rahman ibn Jabala reached Caliph al-Amin and greatly distressed him. It seemed to the people of Baghdad that Tahir ibn Husayn was unstoppable. Nevertheless, people in al-Ahwaz under the leadership of Muhammad ibn Yazid al-Muhallabi put up a fierce resistance to the armies of Tahir ibn Husayn. After defeating the army of al Muhallabi, Tahir reached the gates of Baghdad and at the right time too as his reinforcements arrived under the leadership of Harthama ibn A'yan.[1]
The siege
An apocryphal story claims that at a critical point in the siege of Baghdad by forces loyal to his half-brother al-Ma‘mun, al-Amin received a message during a game of chess. Baghdad’s capture was imminent, the messenger said, advising him that this was not the time to play chess, but to look to the city’s defenses. Al-Amin told the messenger to be patient; he was only a few moves from checkmating his opponent. It is not known how the chess game ended, but al-Amin was captured and paid for his concentration with his life.
The siege has no parallel in warfare of the time.[2] Although the city was surrounded by walls most of the population lived in suburbs which were not. The siege was therefore not an attack on a fortified perimeter but rather street fighting, house to house invasion as well as temporary improvised fortifications. It was extremely destructive especially for the civilian population.[2] Immediately, Tahir ibn Husayn ordered the other commanders namely Zuhayr ibn al-Musayyab al-Dabbi and Harthama ibn A’yan to set up camps at Qasr Raqqat Kalwadha and Nahr Bin respectively, while he set up camp at al-Anbar Gate.[1] They set up siege engines, mangonels, and dug trenches. Both sides are known to have used siege weapons. At one point, a general of al-Amin known as al-Samarqandi used boats to transport mangonels on the river Tigris and bombard enemy positions in the suburbs of Baghdad inflicting more damage to the civilian population than to the besiegers.[2] There were several vicious battles, such as at al-Amin's palace of Qasr Halih, at Darb al-Hijarah and al-Shammasiyyah Gate. In the later stages of the siege irregulars came to the aid of al-Amin.[1]
As things were getting worse and Tahir ibn Husayn pushed into the city, al-Amin sought to negotiate safe passage out. Tahir ibn Husayn reluctantly agreed on the condition that al-Amin turn over his scepter, seal and other insignia of the caliphal office. Al-Amin, reluctant to do so, tried to leave on a boat. Tahir ibn Husayn noticed the boat and sent his men after the Caliph, who was captured and brought to a room where he was executed. His head was placed on the al-Anbar Gate. Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari quotes Tahir's letter to the new Caliph al-Ma'mun informing him of al-Amin's capture and execution and the state of peace resulting in Baghdad.[1]
Aftermath
The victory of al-Ma'mun over al-Amin. Folio from a manuscript of Nigaristan, probably Shiraz, dated 1573–1574.
The end result was that al-Ma'mun became the new Abbasid Caliph. Yet, he would not arrive in Baghdad until 819 due to the destruction and continued disturbances in the city.
Abū Mūsā Muḥammad ibn Hārūn al-Amīn, better known by his laqab of al-Amin, was the sixth Abbasid caliph from 809 to 813.
Abū al-ʿAbbās Abd Allāh ibn Hārūn al-Maʾmūn, better known by his regnal name al-Ma'mun, was the seventh Abbasid caliph, who reigned from 813 until his death in 833. He succeeded his half-brother al-Amin after a civil war, during which the cohesion of the Abbasid Caliphate was weakened by rebellions and the rise of local strongmen; much of his domestic reign was consumed in pacification campaigns. Well educated and with a considerable interest in scholarship, al-Ma'mun promoted the Translation Movement, the flowering of learning and the sciences in Baghdad, and the publishing of al-Khwarizmi's book now known as "Algebra". He is also known for supporting the doctrine of Mu'tazilism and for imprisoning Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, the rise of religious persecution (mihna), and for the resumption of large-scale warfare with the Byzantine Empire.
Ṭāhir ibn Ḥusayn,, also known as Dhul-Yamīnayn, and al-Aʿwar, was a general and governor during the Abbasid Caliphate. Specifically, he served under al-Ma'mun during the Fourth Fitna and led the armies that would defeat al-Amin, making al-Ma'mun the caliph.
This Battle of Rayy was fought on May 1, 811 AD as part of an Abbasid civil war between the two half-brothers, al-Amin and al-Ma'mun.
Abu 'Abdallah Muhammad ibn Tahir ibn 'Abdallah was the last Tahirid governor of Khurasan, from 862 until 873. He was the governor during the period of Extreme instability in Abbasid Caliphate and Civil war of 865–866. His career spanned under four caliphs al-Musta'in, al-Mu'tazz, al-Muhtadi and al-Mu'tamid. He was later appointed as governor of Baghdad by caliph al-Mu'tamid from 885 to 889.
Muhammad ibn Yazid ibn Hatim al-Muhallabi was an Abbasid governor of al-Ahwaz for the Abbasid dynasty during the caliphate of al-Amin. He was killed in the course of the civil war between al-Amin and al-Ma'mun while defending al-Ahwaz against the army of Tahir ibn al-Husayn.
Al-Qāsim ibn Hārūn ar-Rāshīd ibn Muḥammad al-Mahdī was an Abbasid prince, the third son of the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid, and for a time third-in-line to the Abbasid throne.
The Fourth Fitna or Great Abbasid Civil War resulted from the conflict between the brothers al-Amin and al-Ma'mun over the succession to the throne of the Abbasid Caliphate. Their father, Caliph Harun al-Rashid, had named al-Amin as the first successor, but had also named al-Ma'mun as the second, with Khurasan granted to him as an appanage. Later a third son, al-Qasim, had been designated as third successor. After Harun died in 809, al-Amin succeeded him in Baghdad. Encouraged by the Baghdad court, al-Amin began trying to subvert the autonomous status of Khurasan, and al-Qasim was quickly sidelined. In response, al-Ma'mun sought the support of the provincial élites of Khurasan and made moves to assert his own autonomy. As the rift between the two brothers and their respective camps widened, al-Amin declared his own son Musa as his heir and assembled a large army. In 811, al-Amin's troops marched against Khurasan, but al-Ma'mun's general Tahir ibn Husayn defeated them in the Battle of Ray, and then invaded Iraq and besieged Baghdad itself. The city fell after a year, al-Amin was executed, and al-Ma'mun became Caliph.
Harthama ibn A'yan was a Khurasan-born general and governor of the early Abbasid Caliphate, serving under the caliphs al-Hadi, Harun al-Rashid and al-Ma'mun. He played an important role in the victory of al-Ma'mun in the Abbasid civil war, but was executed at his orders when he protested against the power of the Sahlid family that dominated his court.
Ali ibn Isa ibn Mahan was a prominent Iranian military leader of the Abbasid Caliphate in the late 8th and early 9th centuries.
Khuzayma ibn Khazim ibn Khuzayma al-Tamimi was a powerful grandee in the early Abbasid Caliphate. The son of the distinguished military leader Khazim ibn Khuzayma, he inherited a position of privilege and power, and served early on in high state offices. He was crucial in securing the accession of Harun al-Rashid in 786, and was an influential figure throughout his reign. During the civil war of 811–813 he sided with al-Amin, but finally defected to the camp of al-Amin's brother al-Ma'mun and played a decisive role in ending the year-long siege of Baghdad in a victory for al-Ma'mun's forces.
Nasr ibn Shabath al-Uqayli was the leader of a rebellion of the Qays tribe in the Jazira against the central Abbasid government during the civil war of the Fourth Fitna.
Yazid ibn Jarir ibn Yazid ibn Khalid ibn Abdallah al-Qasri was a provincial governor for the Abbasid Caliphate, serving as governor of the Yemen from 812 to 813.
Nu'aym ibn al-Waddah al-Azdi was a ninth century military commander and governor of the Yemen for the Abbasid Caliphate.
Al-Husayn ibn Isma'il ibn Ibrahim ibn Mus'ab was a ninth century army commander in the service of the Abbasid Caliphate. He was particularly active during the period known as the Anarchy at Samarra (861–870).
The shākiriyya were a regular cavalry regiment of the Abbasid Caliphate in the "Samarra period" in the 9th century. Probably of Khurasani and Iranian origin, they were rivals of the Turkish guard, and played a major role in the court conflicts that marked the decade of the "Anarchy at Samarra" in the 860s.
Abu'l-Sarāyā al-Sarī ibn Manṣūr al-Shaybānī was leader of a Zaydi revolt against the Abbasid Caliphate in Kufa and Iraq in 815. The revolt spread quickly across southern Iraq, and his agents even took over Mecca and Medina. At one point, the rebels threatened even Baghdad, but the Abbasid general Harthama ibn A'yan drove them back to Kufa in a series of victories. Forced to abandon Kufa in late August, Abu'l-Saraya and his followers tried to flee, but were pursued, defeated, and captured. Abu'l-Saraya himself was executed at Baghdad on 18 October. The uprising continued in the Hejaz for a few months under Muhammad ibn Ja'far al-Sadiq as anti-caliph at Mecca, until this too was suppressed by the Abbasid troops.
Sulaymān ibn al-Manṣūr, better known as Sulaymān ibn Abī Jaʿfar, was an Abbasid prince and served as governor of Basra, al-Jazira and Syria during the reign of his nephew, Caliph Harun al-Rashid. He also served in Syria under al-Rashid's son and successor, al-Amin.
Dawud ibn Isa ibn Musa al-Hashimi was the ninth century member of the cadet branch Abbasid house. He served as the governor of Medina and Mecca from 811 to 815 for the Abbasid Caliphate.
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