The Golden Islamic Era: The Story of the Life of Caliph Harun al-Rashid, How Much Fact, How Much Fiction


Harun al-Rashid's reign stretched from Central Asia to Libya. About this period, Tennyson wrote, "A good time, a good place because it was the time of the rise of the good Aaron Al-Rashid."






But how good was that era? The idea of   this period being 'golden' came much later and is perhaps a way to focus on the tangled 600-year history of the Khilafah at one point. In these 600 hundred years, the reign of Harun al-Rashid from 786 to 809 is a little more than 20 years.


Many people, including me, think that the best work in the arts, science and literature was to come after Haroon Al-Rashid.


In our view, the names of Haroon al-Rashid and Baghdad are intertwined, and we think that their Baghdad must have been a great place, just as it is presented in Alif Laila. But what was he really like? We can't say anything about it because Harun al-Rashid's Baghdad has nothing left.


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But we know that in the last ten years of the Khilafah era, his favorite city was Raqqa, in Syria, near the northwestern border with the Khilafah's Byzantine Empire, north of Baghdad.


Archaeologists have now discovered not only palaces but also factories in Raqqa. The idea of   factories in the eighth century is certainly exciting. But we do not know how much of a hand Haroon al-Rashid himself was in promoting the industry there.


The fact is that what we know about Haroon al-Rashid from the stories is different from what we know from the books of medieval history, and perhaps the discoveries of modern archeology tell us something new.


If you read a medieval document, Haroon al-Rashid, in most of his adult life, appears to be a weak man who left the Khilafah in his hands, who was under the influence of his mother and wife Zubeida, and whose government was mostly run by bureaucracy. Was under the influence of the Barmakid family.


Towards the end of his reign, he tried to take matters into his own hands, imprisoning the Barmakid family (Barmakian) and killing his favorite Jafar. But they could not plan for the future.


In the absence of a proper system of inheritance, he promised to give the caliphate to himself and to Amin, the son of Zubaydah, and to Mamun, the half-brother of Amin, who was the son of a slave girl.


After his death, war broke out between the two brothers and a map of the Baghdad ruins began to emerge.


Mamun killed Amin and seized the throne and set an example for the future. In the light of these events, the political legacy of the historian Haroon al-Rashid cannot be called glorious and if he had a golden age, it was very short. He died in his 40s.


But the eternal character of the story "Alif Laila" Haroon Al-Rasheed seems to have come to the scene shortly after the death of Haroon Al-Rasheed. This is Aaron who lives in our memory.


They are memories of good times that never were, but probably could have been. The past often comes to the fore as a ray of hope in bad times. He is not only a good ruler but he does everything a ruler can do to build a civilized society.


He is the patron saint of intellectuals and poets, and above all he is a romantic hero, a man of tender heart and beauty, especially of beautiful maids who were clever and highly educated and who had access to music and poetry. ۔


We do not know the exact age of the two at the time, but it is estimated that they were around 20 years old. They were named after the prophets (Moses and Aaron) which should have been a good omen. But the two had a hatred for each other.


Moses had a young son and he wanted to have this caliphate after him and instead of treating Aaron as Crown Prince, he started harassing him.


Aaron's life was in danger. At this point, Khizran stepped forward and took matters into his own hands. She was also powerful in the life of Caliph Al-Mahdi, but Moses also insulted her and told her to deal with women's issues and stay away from state affairs.


It was not a personal battle but a conflict of interest that had arisen in the days of the Mahdi. The Khizran and Barmakid families conspired to dethrone Moses and make Aaron their caliph.


Moses died soon after. Some sources accuse Khizran of poisoning them. According to a source, Khizran had killed Musa by leaning on his face with a maid. But according to an uninteresting tradition, Moses died of a stomach ulcer.


Horrible traditions about the death of Moses are an example of this. Another example is the question of why Aaron turned against Fazl and Yahya and why they killed Jafar?


A good explanation for this from a psychological point of view is that Aaron began to feel that he could not do anything on his own because of his dependence on the Barmakid family and that he began to suffer from suffocation. Jaffar's reputation, in particular, was on the decline.


As a metaphor for this, a story is told that Haroon tried to dominate the Barmakid family and in order to get Jaffar on his bus, he first quietly married his own sister Abbasah and then the two slept together. Forbidden from


Apparently they both disobeyed this order and Haroon used his authority to kill Jafar. Historians have been telling lies for centuries, but they themselves have not been able to provide a politically acceptable explanation for the fall of the Barmakid family.


A true historical explanation is the story of the fate of his son Amin.


Just as Moses broke his promise to Aaron and made his son his heir, so Amin broke his public promise to give the caliphate to his brother Mamun instead of his son.


One of the major political projects for Caliph Harun al-Rashid during his long power-sharing with the Barmakid family was the transfer of power to his sons. But the project failed miserably.


It was against human nature or at least against the nature of the characters in this story. Once again, this chapter is metaphorically told through a story in which the question is what happens to the transfer of power to a morally weak person?


It is said that the night Zubeida became pregnant with her son Amin, she had a dream in which three women came and sat beside him and laid their hands on his stomach and told him what their son would look like. These women said that he would be useless, treacherous and foolish.


The night Amin was born, the three women came back to him in a dream and repeated their prophecy. The night they weaned Amin, the same women came to him in a dream for the last time and said that his faults would lead to his downfall and death.


Despite all the happy horoscopes of the astrologers and the high training of Amin, those predictions came true. The lesson of this story is that human character is destined for it. But it can also be taken to mean that the knowledge of one's destiny can make or break one's character.


The promise that he would hand over power to his brother was first taken from Amin at the age of five, then at the age of 15. When he came to power shortly after the age of 20, he had plenty of time to plan to break that promise.


The fact is that in those days power was not bound by oath. Law enforcement was even less so. Each caliph himself gained power and shaped it. So how did Aaron deal with the power in the presence of Barmakid himself and after him? How much power did they have to achieve?


He remained silent and allowed the Barmakid family to run the affairs of state. That is, he allowed the powerful bureaucracy he inherited from his father to continue his work.


But they also introduced some new things. He promoted the idea that the Khilafah had to prove itself as a religious office and worked to popularize the idea.


He went on a mission to fight against the permanent Christian Byzantine Empire and led it many times. He performed many pilgrimages and offered valuable sacrifices at the holy places. The same was the case with Zubeida, who spent a considerable amount of money on a water supply scheme in Makkah and Madinah and on ensuring the supply of drinking water on the way to these two cities.


This was the example of Zubeida, after which it became customary in Islamic states to establish large charities to promote the philosophy of charity. As a woman from a ruling family, Zubeida was well ahead of her time in establishing her identity in the good deeds of the state. This was an important political role that women will continue to play in the times to come.


From the point of view of statehood, Aaron's part in it was symbolic but full. The example set by Haroon and Zubeida became an example for centuries of Muslim rulers. That is, the legitimacy of any state is created by its actions.


This meant not only welfare work and jihad, but also the establishment of the post of judge by taking the sector under symbolic patronage, considering the provision of justice as the responsibility of the state.


Justice, family and politics go hand in hand in Aaron's life. That is why it is difficult to separate the private and the public in their legacy. Like his father, he loved music and poetry. He had a half-sister and a half-brother, both professional musicians and poets. His poems are still read today.


Art was a personal hobby. But it was impossible for a nobleman to contribute to its promotion and display even if only for the elite in his own court.


Aaron was the royal patron of the arts, continuing this tradition and gaining public acceptance. This was another tradition that lasted for centuries.


So in the final analysis, it seems that Aaron deserves the place that is given to him in people's memories. He played an important role in keeping the eternal ideology of civilization alive.


Aaron and Zubeida told the incoming rulers how the states (grand gestures) could do great things and build relationships with the people. And most of all, the life stories of Haroon, Zubeida, their children, and the Barmakid family have provided thought provoking material for centuries and continue to do so today, thanks to the Internet and tv,