Al-Hadi al-'Abbasi: Difference between revisions

Hadi ‘Abbasi wanted to appoint his small son (Ja’far) as the crown prince instead of Harun, but he could not. He followed the policy of his father, Mahdi ‘Abbasi in standing against Zanadiqa and killed many of them. After him, his brother Harun al-Rashid reached caliphate.

Musa b. Mahdi b. Mansur b. Muhammad b. Ali b. ‘Abbas titled as Hadi was the fourth ‘Abbasid caliph. His kunya was Abu Ja’far or Abu Muhammad and was born of a female servant called Khayzaran. He reached the caliphate at the age of 25 in Muharram 169 AH. He was the youngest caliph until that time.

He was very dear to his father and was appointed as the first crown prince by his father at the age of 16 and was chosen as the leader of the army. Toward the end of his life, Mahdi decided to replaced Hadi with his other son, Harun, but he died before doing so. At the time of Mahdi’s death, Hadi was in Jorjan and was fighting with the people of Tabarestan; therefore, his brother Harun gave allegiance to him at the very same day of Mahdi’s death and took the allegiance of the great Abbasid chiefs and commanders of the army for him.

Hadi decided to transfer crown princehood from his brother Harun to his 7 year old son, Ja’far; and made a lot of efforts in that way, and since Ja’far was very young, Hadi tried to put pressure on Harun and convince him to resign himself. So, Harun escaped from the capital and did not return there until the end of his brother’s life.

He was physically strong. He was famous for his bravery and talent in government and generosity. However, he was a cruel, daring and zealous. Because of a defect he had in his lips, he was also known as Musa Atbaq. He was interested in literature and history and very much loved songs.

He ruled for about one year and two months and died in Baghdad at the age of 25 or 26 in 170 AH. Some considered his death due to illness and some others mentioned that he was killed in sleep by the order of his mother due to family disputes, by one of the female servants. His brother Harun performed prayer upon him and he was buried in ‘Isa Abad.

== Encounter with ‘Allawis ==

Hadi ‘Abbasi was harsh on ‘Allawis and treated them cruelly. He cut all their allowances which were assigned for them at the time of Mahdi ‘Abbasi. Abu al-Faraj Isfahani mentioned these actions because of the fear from ‘Allawis’ uprising against Hadi.

He ordered his agents to watch all ‘Alawis’ activities, put some spies among them and made an order about them through his agents to go to Dar al-Imara and register their presence.

== Suppression of the Uprising of the Martyr of Fakh ==  

In the first days of Hadi ‘Abbasi’s government, ‘Alawis of Hijaz led by Husayn b. Ali b. Hasan made an uprising in Medina and were heavily defeated by the government. In this battle, many of ‘Alawis and Husayn’s companions were killed. Hadi’s harsh encounter made the situation in Hijaz difficult for ‘Alawis. To free from this situation, they turned to one of the chiefs of ‘Alawis known as Ali b. Husayn b. Hasan and urged him to make an uprising. However, some believe that he looked for an opportunity to take the power since many years ago, considered it among the rights of ‘Alawis and looked for an opportunity to make an uprising; and that the oppression of Hadi toward ‘Alawis gave him the opportunity for uprising. In any case, he found the opportunity to make an uprising and began his movement in 169 AH. He first took over Medina and released the prisoners and imprisoned Abbasid agents and made Masjid al-Nabi his command center. Then, he moved toward Mecca and camped in a valley called Fakh, six mils from Mecca. People of Mecca did not accept his invitation. At that time, Abbasid army led by ‘Isa b. Musa arrived in the region and after engaging in a battle, Husayn and his companions were defeated and killed. This event became famous as the event of Fakh in the history and Husayn became known as Shahid Fakh [“the martyr of Fakh”] or Sahib Fakh. After the event of Karbala, this event was considered the most heart-wrenching events for ‘Alawis and many laments were composed about it.  

After the event of Fakh, Hadi ‘Abbasi accused Imam al-Kazim (a) of provoking revolutionaries and considered him the chief blameworthy person for the uprising of ‘Alawis in the event of Fakh. So, he was very angry and decided to arrest and kill Imam (a), but he died before he could implement his decision.

The same as his father, Hadi hated Zanadiqa and followed his father’s policy in chasing and punishing them. So, he killed a group of them including Yazdan b. Badhan and ‘Ali b. Yaqtin and also a group of them who had made an uprising in Jazira region.

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