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{{Short description|Abbasid-era Muslim civil war (811–819)}}
{{good article}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict
| partof =
| image = The victory of Maʿmun over Amin, folio from a manuscript of Nigaristan, Iran, probably Shiraz, dated 1573-74.jpg
| caption = "The victory of Maʿmun over Amin". Folio from a manuscript of ''Nigaristan'', Iran, probably [[Shiraz]], dated 1573–74.
| date = 811–813/837
|result=Defeat and death of [[al-Amin]]; [[al-Ma'mun]] is recognized as Caliph; establishment of the [[Tahirids]] in [[Khurasan]] ▼
|
| result = Victory of al-Ma'mun
|combatant2=[[Abbasid Caliphate]](pro-[[al-Ma'mun]]'s forces|[[Khurasan]]))▼
▲
|combatant3=Local rulers & rebel leaders▼
| combatant1 = [[al-Amin]]'s forces|[[Iraq]])
|commander1=[[al-Amin]]{{KIA}}<br/>[[Ali ibn Isa ibn Mahan|Ali ibn Isa]]{{KIA}}<br/>[[Abd al-Rahman ibn Jabala]]{{KIA}}<br/>[[Muhammad ibn Yazid al-Muhallabi|Muhammad al-Muhallabi]]{{KIA}}▼
|commander2=[[al-Ma'mun]]<br/>[[Tahir ibn Husayn]]<br/>[[Harthama ibn A'yan]]<br/>[[Abdallah ibn Tahir]]<br>[[al-Hasan ibn Sahl]]<br>[[al-Fadl ibn Sahl]]▼
▲| combatant3 = Local rulers & rebel leaders
▲| commander1 = {{ubl|[[al-Amin]]{{KIA}}
|campaignbox={{Campaignbox Civil Wars of the Early Caliphates}}▼
▲| commander2 = {{ubl|[[al-Ma'mun]]
| commander3 = {{ubl|[[Ubaydallah ibn al-Sari]]|[[Nasr ibn Shabath al-Uqayli|Nasr al-Uqayli]]|[[Babak Khorramdin]]|[[Abu'l-Saraya]]{{Executed}}|[[Muhammad ibn Ja'far al-Sadiq]]{{Surrendered}}|[[Ibrahim ibn Musa al-Kadhim]]|[[Abu al-Umaytir al-Sufyani]]}}
▲| campaignbox = {{Campaignbox Civil Wars of the Early Caliphates}}
}}
The '''Fourth Fitna''' or '''Great Abbasid Civil War'''{{sfn|Kennedy|2004|p=147}} 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 ibn Harun al-Rashid|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
Al-Ma'mun chose to remain in Khurasan, however, rather than coming to the capital. This allowed the power vacuum which the civil war had fostered in the Caliphate's provinces to grow, and several local rulers sprang up in [[al-Jazira
Historians have interpreted the conflict variously; in the words of the Iranologist [[Elton L. Daniel]], it has been
==Background==
[[File:Arabische Eroberung 2.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.2|Map of the Muslim expansion and the Muslim world under the [[Umayyad]] and early [[Abbasid]] caliphates]]
The origins of the civil war lie in the succession arrangements of [[Harun al-Rashid]] ({{reign|786|809}}) as well as the internal political dynamics of the [[Abbasid Caliphate]]. The two main contenders, [[al-Amin|Muhammad al-Amin]] and [[al-Ma'mun|Abdallah al-Ma'mun]], were born six months apart in [[Anno Hegirae|AH]] 170 (786/7) with al-Ma'mun being the elder.{{sfn|Kennedy|2004|p=142}}{{sfn|Rekaya|1991|p=331}} It was al-Amin however who was named first heir in 792, while al-Ma'mun followed in 799, a sequence which was influenced by their lines of descent and their political implications: al-Amin had a solidly Abbasid lineage, being Harun's son by [[Zubaidah bint Ja`far|Zubayda]], herself descended from the second Abbasid Caliph [[al-Mansur]] ({{reign|754|775}}), while al-Ma'mun's mother was [[Marajil]], a Persian concubine from [[Badghis Province|Badhgis]] in [[Khurasan]].{{sfn|Kennedy|2004|p=142}}{{sfn|Rekaya|1991|p=331}}{{sfn|El-Hibri|2010|p=282}}
While al-Ma'mun's origin was less prestigious than the purely Arab al-Amin, his ties to Khurasan and the [[Iranian peoples|Iranian]]-dominated eastern provinces were an important factor in his choice as heir.{{sfn|El-Hibri|2010|p=282}} In contrast to the exclusively Arab-ruled [[Umayyad Caliphate]], the Abbasid state was under heavy Iranian, and particularly Khurasani, influence.{{sfn|El-Hibri|2010|p=301}} The [[Abbasid Revolution]], which brought the Abbasids to power, originated in Khurasan, and the Abbasid dynasty relied heavily on Khurasanis as military leaders and administrators. Many of the original Khurasani Arab army (''Khurasaniyya'') that came west with the Abbasids were given estates in [[Mesopotamia|Iraq]] and the new Abbasid capital, [[Baghdad]], and became an elite group known as the ''[[abna al-dawla|abnaʾ al-dawla]]'' ("sons of the state/dynasty").{{sfn|El-Hibri|2010|p=274}}{{sfn|Kennedy|2004|pp=133–134}} Khurasan retained a privileged position among the Caliphate's provinces,{{sfn|Kennedy|2004|p=135}} and Harun al-Rashid, in particular, was careful to cultivate his ties with the Iranian element of the Caliphate, not least through his promotion of the Khurasani [[Barmakid]] family to positions of power.{{sfn|El-Hibri|2010|pp=281–282}} Both al-Amin and al-Ma'mun had been tutored in their youth by the Barmakids, al-Amin by [[al-Fadl ibn Yahya]] and al-Ma'mun by [[Ja'far ibn Yahya]]. While al-Amin would distance himself from the Barmakids and become closely associated with the ''abnaʾ'' aristocracy of Baghdad, al-Ma'mun remained influenced by Ja'far and his associates.{{sfn|Kennedy|2004|p=142}}
In 802, Harun and the most powerful officials of the Abbasid government made the [[hajj|pilgrimage]] to [[Mecca]], where the definitive succession arrangement was drawn up: al-Amin would succeed Harun in Baghdad, but al-Ma'mun would remain al-Amin's heir and would additionally rule over an enlarged and practically independent Khurasan. A third son, [[al-Qasim ibn Harun al-Rashid|al-Qasim]] (al-Mu'tamin), was also added as third heir and received responsibility over the [[al-'Awasim|frontier areas]] with the [[Byzantine Empire]].{{sfn|Kennedy|2004|p=142}}{{sfn|Rekaya|1991|p=331}}{{sfn|Daniel|1979|pp=175–176}} The stipulations of the agreement, extensively recorded by the historian [[al-Tabari]], may however have been distorted by later apologists of al-Ma'mun, especially as regards the extent of the autonomy granted to al-Ma'mun's eastern viceroyalty.{{sfn|El-Hibri|2010|pp=282–283}}
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Some modern scholars have tried to interpret the conflict between the two brothers as a confrontation between the Arab and Iranian elements of the caliphate, represented by the two contenders' mothers.{{sfn|Gabrieli|1960|p=438}} It is true that the Iranian-dominated East generally backed al-Ma'mun, but neither was al-Amin a conscious champion of "Arabism",{{sfn|Gabrieli|1960|p=438}} nor was the support for al-Ma'mun the result of his Iranian origin, although his supporters did make propaganda among the local population for the "son of their sister". Al-Ma'mun enjoyed the support of the local elites of Khurasan mainly because they saw in him a champion of their newly won autonomy, and because he himself assiduously cultivated that support. Later, during the war, the prospect of his victory also offered the Khurasanis the promise of a yet more privileged position in the new regime.{{sfn|Rekaya|1991|pp=331, 333}} However, the conflict was first and foremost a dynastic dispute, with al-Amin attempting to institute a direct patrilineal succession. In this he did nothing but follow the footsteps of his predecessors since [[al-Mansur]], all of whom struggled against the claims of brothers or cousins. Harun al-Rashid himself was imprisoned during the brief reign of his elder brother [[al-Hadi]] ({{reign|785|786}}).{{sfn|Rekaya|1991|p=332}} Given to indolence and lacking any political ability himself, al-Amin entrusted this project to al-Fadl ibn al-Rabi, who is generally portrayed as the "evil genius" behind al-Amin,{{sfn|Gabrieli|1960|p=438}} and one of the main instigators of the conflict.{{sfn|Rekaya|1991|p=333}} Very quickly, al-Amin moved to sideline the youngest brother, Qasim. Initially, Qasim was removed from his governorship of the [[Upper Mesopotamia|Jazira]], but soon after he was stripped altogether of his place in the succession and placed under guard at Baghdad.{{sfn|Rekaya|1991|p=331}}{{sfn|Fishbein|1992|pp=20, 22, 27}} It was only because al-Ma'mun resided far from the Caliph's immediate area of control that he escaped sharing this fate.{{sfn|Rekaya|1991|p=332}}
The rift between the two camps manifested in 810, when al-Amin added his own son, Musa, to the line of succession.{{sfn|Rekaya|1991|p=332}} Al-Amin then sent a delegation to Marv, asking al-Ma'mun to return to Baghdad. After al-Ma'mun, fearing for his safety, refused, al-Amin began to interfere with his brother's domain: he protested al-Ma'mun's pardon to Ibn al-Layth after his surrender and asked for tribute from the governors of the western provinces of Khurasan as a sign of submission. He then demanded of his brother the cession of the western regions of Khurasan, the admission of caliphal tax and postal agents into the province, and the forwarding of
Al-Ma'mun, who was already favourably regarded after the excesses of Ali ibn Isa, consciously set about to cultivate the support of the local population, reducing taxes, dispensing justice in person, conceding privileges to the native princes, and demonstratively evoking episodes from the beginnings of the Abbasid movement in the province. He now became a "political magnet for Iranian sympathisers" (El-Hibri) refused to cede his province or return to Baghdad, and began to gather around him those dissatisfied with Baghdad's centralizing policies or who had simply been left out of the share of spoils and power after the Abbasid Revolution.{{sfn|El-Hibri|2010|p=284}}{{sfn|Daniel|1979|pp=177–178}}
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Under the influence of their respective chief ministers, al-Amin and al-Ma'mun took steps that further polarized the political climate and made the breach irreparable. After al-Ma'mun symbolically removed al-Amin's name from his coins and from the [[Friday prayer]], in November 810 al-Amin removed al-Ma'mun and al-Mu'tamin from the succession and nominated his own sons Musa and Abdallah instead. Al-Ma'mun replied by declaring himself ''[[imam]]'', a religious title which shied of directly challenging the Caliph but nevertheless implied independent authority, as well as hearkening back to the early days of the ''[[Hashimiyya]]'' movement which had carried the Abbasids to power.{{sfn|Rekaya|1991|p=332}}{{sfn|El-Hibri|2010|p=285}}{{sfn|Kennedy|2004|p=148}}
Despite the reservations of some of his senior ministers and governors, two months later, in January 811, al-Amin formally began the civil war when he appointed Ali ibn Isa governor of Khurasan, placed him at the head of an unusually large army of 40,000 men, drawn from the ''abnaʾ'', and sent him to depose al-Ma'mun. When Ali ibn Isa set out for Khurasan, he reportedly took along a set of silver chains with which to bind al-Ma'mun and carry him back to Baghdad.{{sfn|Kennedy|2004|p=148}}{{sfn|Rekaya|1991|pp=332–333}} The news of Ali's approach threw Khurasan into panic, and even al-Ma'mun considered fleeing. The only military force available to him was a small army of some 4,000–5,000 men, under [[Tahir ibn al-Husayn]]. Tahir was sent to confront Ali's advance, but it was widely regarded as almost a suicide mission, even by Tahir's own father. The two armies met at [[Rey, Iran|Rayy]], on the western borders of Khurasan, and the [[Battle of
Tahir's unexpected victory was decisive: al-Ma'mun's position was secured, while his main opponents, the ''abnaʾ'', lost men, prestige and their most dynamic leader.{{sfn|Kennedy|2004|p=149}} Tahir now advanced westwards, defeated another ''abnaʾ'' army of 20,000 under [[Abd al-Rahman ibn Jabala]] after a series of hard-fought engagements near [[Hamadan]], and reached [[Hulwan]] by winter.{{sfn|Rekaya|1991|p=333}}{{sfn|Kennedy|2004|p=149}}{{sfn|Daniel|1979|pp=179–180}} Al-Amin now desperately tried to bolster his forces by alliances with Arab tribes, notably the [[Banu Shayban]] of [[al-Jazira
[[File:Iraq in 812.svg|upright=1.2|thumb|right|Map of Iraq and surrounding regions in the early ninth century]]
In spring 812, Tahir, reinforced with more troops under [[Harthama ibn A'yan]], resumed his offensive. He invaded [[Khuzistan]], where he defeated and killed the [[Muhallabids (clan)|Muhallabid]] governor [[Muhammad ibn Yazid al-Muhallabi|Muhammad ibn Yazid]], whereupon the Muhallabids of [[Basra]] surrendered to him. Tahir also took [[Kufa]] and [[al-Mada'in]], advancing on Baghdad from the west while Harthama closed in from the east.{{sfn|Rekaya|1991|p=333}} At the same time, al-Amin's authority crumbled as supporters of al-Ma'mun took control of [[Mosul]], [[Egypt in the Middle Ages|Egypt]] and the [[Hejaz]], while most of Syria, [[Arminiya|Armenia]] and [[Adharbayjan]] fell under the control of local Arab tribal leaders.{{sfn|Kennedy|2004|p=149}}{{sfn|Rekaya|1991|p=334}} As Tahir's army closed on Baghdad, the rift between al-Amin and the ''abnaʾ'' was solidified when the desperate Caliph turned to the common people of the city for help and gave them arms. The ''abnaʾ'' began
The historian [[Hugh N. Kennedy]] characterized the subsequent [[Siege of Baghdad (812–813)|siege of the city]] as "an episode almost without parallel in the history of early Islamic society" and "the nearest early Islamic history saw to an attempt at social revolution", as Baghdad's urban proletariat defended their city for over a year in a vicious urban [[guerrilla]] war.{{sfn|Kennedy|2004|pp=149–150}}{{sfn|Rekaya|1991|pp=333–334}} Indeed, it was this "revolutionary" situation in the city as much as famine and the besiegers' professional expertise, that brought about its fall: in September 813, Tahir convinced some of the richer citizens to cut the [[pontoon bridge]]s over the [[Tigris]] that connected the city to the outside world, allowing al-Ma'mun's men to occupy the city's eastern suburbs. Al-Ma'mun's troops then launched a final assault, in which al-Amin was captured and executed at Tahir's orders while trying to seek refuge with his old family friend Harthama.{{sfn|Rekaya|1991|p=334}}{{sfn|Kennedy|2004|p=150}} While al-Ma'mun was probably not implicated in the act, it was politically convenient, as it left him both ''de jure'' and ''de facto'' the legitimate caliph.{{sfn|Gabrieli|1960|pp=437–438}}
==Sahlid dominance and reaction, 813–819==
[[File:The populace pays allegiance to the new Abbasid Caliph, al-Ma'mun (6124531161).jpg|200px|thumb|right|The populace pays [[Bay'ah|Allegiance]] to the Abbasid caliph, [[Al-Ma'mun]] in 813. (from the book ''Tarikh-i Alfi'' 1593 CE)]]
Nevertheless, the regicide soured al-Ma'mun's victory. Tahir was soon transferred out of the public eye to an unimportant post in [[Raqqa]], but his deed lastingly tarnished the prestige and image of the Abbasid dynasty.{{sfn|El-Hibri|2010|p=285}}{{sfn|Kennedy|2004|pp=150, 151}} According to Elton Daniel, "It shattered the sacrosanct aura which had surrounded the person of the Abbasid caliphs; For the first time, an Abbasid ruler had been humiliated and put to death by rebellious subjects".{{sfn|Daniel|1979|p=180}} As al-Ma'mun remained in Marv and made no signs of returning to the caliphal capital, a wave of Arab antipathy towards al-Ma'mun and his "Persian" supporters came to the fore in the western regions of the Caliphate, particularly in Baghdad and surroundings, which feared being degraded to a mere province. This was furthered when the new Caliph entrusted the governance of the state to Fadl ibn Sahl, who intended to permanently move the Muslim world's centre of power eastwards to Khurasan, where he and his circle could control the reins of power to the exclusion of other groups.{{sfn|Daniel|1979|p=180}}{{sfn|El-Hibri|2010|p=286}}{{sfn|Kennedy|2004|pp=150–151}} Fadl was also responsible for side-lining many other supporters of al-Ma'mun; thus, when Harthama ibn A'yan went to Marv to inform al-Ma'mun of the real situation in the west, the Sahlids turned the Caliph against him and he was executed on charges of treason in June 816. In response, Harthama's son Hatim led a short-lived revolt in Armenia.{{sfn|Kennedy|2004|p=151}}{{sfn|Rekaya|1991|pp=334–335}}
The result of these policies was that revolts and local power struggles erupted across the Caliphate, with only Khurasan and the frontier districts with the Byzantine Empire exempt from this turmoil.{{sfn|Daniel|1979|p=180}}{{sfn|Kennedy|2004|pp=150–151}} Iraq in particular descended into near-anarchy. The new governor of Iraq, Fadl's brother [[al-Hasan ibn Sahl]], soon lost the support of the ''abnaʾ''. The local population's alienation from his regime was exploited by the [[Zaidiyyah|Zaydi]] [[Alids]],{{cref|
In 816, to bolster his flagging prestige, al-Ma'mun assumed the title "God's Caliph". Taking note of the widespread Alid support in his western provinces, al-Ma'mun not only spared the lives of the various Alid anti-caliphs, but on 24 March 817 also named the Alid [[Ali al-Ridha|Ali ibn Musa al-Ridha]],
[[File:RezaShrine.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.2|The [[Imam Reza shrine]], erected over the grave of Ali ibn Musa al-Ridha]]
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==Notes==
{{refbegin}}
{{Cnote|a|At the outbreak of the civil war, large parts of [[Bilad al-Sham|Syria]] threw off allegiance to the Abbasids. The governor in [[Damascus]], the Abbasid prince [[Sulayman ibn Abi Ja'far]], was expelled by pro-[[Umayyad dynasty|Umayyad]] forces with particular backing from the [[Banu Kalb|Kalb]] tribe. A descendant of the Umayyad caliph [[Mu'awiya I]], [[Abu al-Umaytir al-Sufyani]], was proclaimed caliph in Damascus in 811 and gained recognition in [[Homs]] and other parts of Syria.{{sfn|Madelung|2000|pp=327, 331, 333–334}} He was less well-received by the Kalb's longtime rivals, the Qays, who mobilized against Abu al-Umaytir and the Kalb under the pro-Abbasid tribal chief, [[Ibn Bayhas al-Kilabi]].{{sfn|Cobb|2001|pp=60–61}}{{sfn|Madelung|2000|p=334}} The latter toppled the Umayyad government in Damascus in 813 and was recognized as governor by al-Ma'mun. Ibn Bayhas ruled semi-independently, even minting his own coins. He remained in office until being dismissed in the mid-820s by al-Ma'mun's viceroy over Syria and the Jazira, [[Abdallah ibn Tahir al-Khurasani|Abd Allah ibn Tahir ibn al-Husayn]].{{sfn|Madelung|2000|pp=339–340}}}}
{{Cnote|
{{refend}}
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==Sources==
* {{cite book |last1=Cobb |first1=Paul M. |title=White Banners: Contention in 'Abbasid Syria, 750–880 |date=2001 |publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=978-0791448809 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2C6KIBw4F9YC}}
* {{cite book | title = The Political and Social History of Khurasan under Abbasid Rule, 747–820 | last = Daniel | first = Elton L. |
* {{New Cambridge History of Islam|last=El-Hibri|first=Tayeb|authorlink=|volume=1|chapter=The empire in Iraq, 763–861|pages=269–304}}
* {{The History of al-Tabari | volume = 31 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Utb5Z1h_RtoC}}
* {{EI2 | last = Gabrieli | first = F. | title = al-Amīn | volume = 1 | pages = 437–438 | url=https://doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_0599}}
* {{The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates | edition = Second}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Madelung |authorlink=Wilferd Madelung |first1=Wilferd |title=Abūʾl-Amayṭar al-Sufyānī |year=2000 |journal=Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam |volume=24 |pages=327–341}}
* {{EI2 | last = Rekaya | first = M. | authorlink = | title = al-Maʾmūn | volume = 6 | pages = 331–339 | url = https://doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_4889}}
==Further reading==
* {{cite book | last = Amabe | first = Fukuzo | title = The Emergence of the ʿAbbāsid Autocracy: The Abbasid Army, Khurāsān and Adharbayjān | year = 1995 | location = Kyoto | publisher = Kyoto University Press | isbn = 9784876980246
* {{cite book | last = El-Hibri | first = Tayeb | title = Reinterpreting Islamic Historiography: Hārūn al-Rashı̄d and the Narrative of the ʿAbbāsid Caliphate | year = 1999 | publisher=Cambridge University Press | isbn=0-521-65023-2
* {{cite journal | last = Yücesoy | first = Hayrettin | title = Between Nationalism and the Social Sciences: A History of Modern Scholarship on the Abbasid Civil War and the Reign of al-Ma'mun | journal = Medieval Encounters | volume = 8 | year = 2002 | pages = 56–78 | doi = 10.1163/157006702320365940
* {{cite book | last = Yücesoy | first = Hayrettin | title = Messianic Beliefs and Imperial Politics in Medieval Islam: The ʻAbbāsid Caliphate in the Early Ninth Century | publisher = University of South Carolina Press | year = 2009 | isbn = 9781570038198 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ikB14gKKIQIC
{{Abbasid Caliphate topics}}
[[Category:Fourth Fitna| ]]
[[Category:Iraq under the Abbasid Caliphate]]
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