Abū Jaʿfar Hārūn ibn Muḥammad ar-Rāshīd, or simply Hārūn ibn al-Mahdī, famously known as Hārūn ar-Rāshīd, was the fifth Abbasid caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate, reigning from September 786 until his death in March 809. His reign is traditionally regarded to be the beginning of the Islamic Golden Age. His epithet al-Rashid translates to "the Orthodox", "the Just", "the Upright", or "the Rightly-Guided".
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.
Abū Isḥāq Muḥammad ibn Hārūn al-Rashīd, better known by his regnal name al-Muʿtaṣim biʾllāh, was the eighth Abbasid caliph, ruling from 833 until his death in 842. A younger son of Caliph Harun al-Rashid, he rose to prominence through his formation of a private army composed predominantly of Turkic slave-soldiers. This proved useful to his half-brother, Caliph al-Ma'mun, who employed al-Mu'tasim and his Turkish guard to counterbalance other powerful interest groups in the state, as well as employing them in campaigns against rebels and the Byzantine Empire. When al-Ma'mun died unexpectedly on campaign in August 833, al-Mu'tasim was thus well placed to succeed him, overriding the claims of al-Ma'mun's son al-Abbas.
Muhammad ibn Ali al-Jawad was a descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the ninth of the Twelve Imams, succeeding his father, Ali al-Rida. He is known by the epithets al-Jawād and al-Taqī. Like most of his predecessors, Muhammad kept aloof from politics and engaged in religious teaching, while organizing the affairs of the Imamite Shia community through a network of representatives. The extensive correspondence of al-Jawad with his followers on questions of Islamic law has been preserved in Shia sources and numerous pithy religio-ethical sayings are also attributed to him.
Ibrāhīm ibn al-Mahdī was an Abbasid prince, singer, composer and poet. He was the son of the third Abbasid caliph, al-Mahdi, and the half-brother of the poet and musician Ulayya. Ibrahim was contemporary of Abbasid caliph al-Hadi, al-Rashid and his three nephews caliph al-Amin, al-Ma'mun, al-Mu'tasim.
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.
The Alid revolt of 762–763 or Revolt of Muhammad the Pure Soul was an uprising by the Hasanid branch of the Alids against the newly established Abbasid Caliphate. The Hasanids, led by the brothers Muhammad and Ibrahim, rejected the legitimacy of the Abbasid family's claim to power. Reacting to mounting persecution by the Abbasid regime, in 762 they launched a rebellion, with Muhammad rising in revolt at Medina in September and Ibrahim following in Basra in November.
Isa ibn Yazid al-Juludi was a ninth century military commander for the Abbasid Caliphate. He twice served as governor of Egypt, from 827 to 829 and again from 829 to 830.
Abu al-Husayn Ishaq ibn Ibrahim was a ninth-century official in the service of the Abbasid Caliphate. A member of the Mus'abid family, he was related to the Tahirid governors of Khurasan, and was himself a prominent enforcer of caliphal policy during the reigns of al-Ma'mun, al-Mu'tasim, al-Wathiq, and al-Mutawakkil.
Abu Muhammad Yahya ibn Aktham was a ninth century Arab Islamic jurist. He twice served as the chief judge of the Abbasid Caliphate, from ca. 825 to 833 and 851 to 854.
Abu 'Abdallah Ahmad ibn Abi Du'ad al-Iyadi was an Islamic religious judge (qadi) of the mid-ninth century. A proponent of Mu'tazilism, he was appointed as chief judge of the Abbasid Caliphate in 833, and became highly influential during the caliphates of al-Mu'tasim and al-Wathiq. During his tenure as chief judge he sought to maintain Mu'tazilism as the official ideology of the state, and he played a leading role in prosecuting the Inquisition (mihnah) to ensure compliance with Mu'tazilite doctrines among officials and scholars. In 848 Ibn Abi Du'ad suffered a stroke and transferred his position to his son Muhammad, but his family's influence declined during the caliphate of al-Mutawakkil, who gradually abandoned Mu'tazilism and put an end to the mihnah.
Ja'far ibn Dinar ibn Abdallah al-Khayyat was a ninth-century military commander for the Abbasid Caliphate.
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.
Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn Hārūn was an Abbasid prince, the son of Caliph al-Mu'tasim. He was a contemporary of the caliph al-Wathiq and al-Mutawakkil. His son Ahmad became the twelfth Abbasid caliph as al-Musta'in. Muhammad was the first prince in Abbasid history whose son became a caliph, no other Abbasid prince before him had this prestige.
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.
Muhammad bin Uthman was a rebel leader who played a key role in the Zutt Rebellion, which took place in Iraq in the early 9th century CE. He was born into a family of the Zutt tribe who had settled in the region around Basra, and he rose to prominence as a military commander and political figure during the reign of Caliph al-Ma'mun.
Zuṭṭ is an Arabicised form of Jat. Originally inhabitants of lower Indus Valley (Pakistan), Jats were present in Mesopotamia from the 5th century AD since the times of the Sasanian Empire, although their main migration occurred after the establishment of Umayyad Caliphate. They were one of the prominent ethnic groups in lower Iraq during the Islamic Golden Age, supplying mercenary soldiers to the Muslim states. Their mention fades from Arab chronicles after the 11th century.
The Capture of Basra was a significant event during the Zutt Rebellion, in which the Zutts seized control of the city and ruled it independently. The rebellion stemmed from their dominance over waterways and canals, allowing them to exert control over vital resources and trade routes in the region.
