Al-Ma'mun

Maʾmūn, Abu l-ʿAbbās ʿAbd Allāh (مأمون ابوالعباس عبدالله) (b. 170 AH/786 d. 218 AH/833) the son of Harun al-Rashid, was the 7th caliph of Abbasid dynasty, who became Caliph after his brother, Muhammad Amin al-'Abbasi, was killed in 198 AH/814. He died in 218 AH/833.

Lineage

'Abd Allah b. Harun, nicknamed Ma'mun, was born from a Persian mother. His mother, Marajil, was a slave woman from Badghis, Afghanistan.

Birth and Death

Ma'mun was born on Jum'a eve, 15th of Rabi' al-Awwal 170 AH (September 19th 786). He died in 218/833 after a minor illness near Tartus, Syria, when he was coming back from a war in Egypt.

Caliphate

He was the 7th caliph of Abbasid dynasty. Persians who had tendency toward Shi'a and have suffered the tyranny of 'Ali b. 'Isa -who was appointed by Harun as the governor of Khurasan- and hated the nasty action of the Caliph ,Amin, supported Ma'mun. On the other hand Arab leaders and people of Baghdad supported Amin. Mu'mun was able to defeat 'Ali b. 'Isa, the chief commander of the army of Amin, in 195 AH/810 by craftiness and perspicacity of Fadl b. Sahl, who later became his vizier, and commanding of Tahir b. Husayn titled as Dhu al-Yaminayn, the chief commander of his army. And finally after a serious conflict in 198 AH/813 Tahir conquered Baghdad. Amin was prisoned and then killed. Ma'mun was officially chosen as the Caliph in 198 AH/813 and he chose Fadl b. Sahl as his vizier.

Bayhaqi writes:

"giving allegiance to Ma'mun was in 195 AH/810 and by 196 AH/811 majority of people in (Islamic) regions had swore allegiance to him. When Amin was killed in Muharram 198 AH (September 813), people from all the Islamic territory unanimously accepted Ma'mun's caliphate."

Influenced by Persian training, Ma'mun was very interested in knowledge and wisdom from young ages. Therefore, during his caliphate period he assigned scholars to translate books from Greek, Syriac, Pahlavi and Indian to Arabic. His court was a center to gather scholars of various religious and sects, for discussion and debate.

His Governors

Ma'mun appointed Muttalib b. 'Abd Allah al-Khuza'i as the governor of Egypt in 198 AH/813, he was at the position for 7 months until Ma'mun appointed 'Abbas b. Musa b. 'Isa al-Hashimi as its governor in 199 AH/814. 'Abbas b. Musa also put his son 'Abd Allah in charge.

In 199 AH/814, Ma'mun appointed Hasan b. Sahl as the governor of Iraq and its environs.

Successor

Ma'mun, brought Imam al-Rida (a) from Medina to Khurasan and swore allegiance to him as his successor on Monday 7th of Ramadan 201 AH (April 3rd 817). He ordered people of all Islamic regions to wear green clothes instead of black and took their allegiance (black was Abbasid's color while Shi'a wore green clothes). Sermons were delivered in his (Imam al-Rida (a)) name and coins (Dinar and Dirham) were minted in his name.

External Links

• The material for this article is mainly taken from مأمون in Farsi WikiShia.