Harun al-Rashid

“ Hence too while thousands of Europeans have cohabited for years with and have had families by “native women,” they are never loved by them:—at least I never heard of a case.
HARUN AL-RASHID AND THE THREE POETS. The Prince of True Believers, Caliph Harun al-Rashid, was exceeding restless one night; so he rose and walked about his palace, till he happened on a handmaid overcome with wine. Now he was prodigiously enamoured of this damsel; so he played with her and pulled her to him, whereupon her zone fell down and her petticoat-trousers were loosed and he besought her of amorous favour. ”

“ Then, when thou hast prayed over me and laid 113me in the dust, go to Baghdad and watch for the Caliph Harun al-Rashid, till he come forth, when do thou give him what thou shalt find in the breast of my gown and bear him my salutation.” Then he ejaculated the profession of the Faith and glorified his God in the most eloquent of words reciting these couplets:—
Carry the trust of him whom death awaits ✿ To Al-Rashid, and God reward thy care! ”

“ The scenes are laid in all the four corners of the globe, but especially in the two great centres of Muhammadan activity, Bagdad and Cairo. It is not a matter of chance that Harun al-Rashid is the Caliph to whom the legends of the 'Nights' have given a crown so very different from the one which he really wore. Though his character was often far from that which is pictured here, he was still a patron of art and of literature. His time was the heyday of Muhammadan splendor ”

“ When we saw him after this fashion, our amazement waxed still greater and we said to him, "We have hardly patience enough to await thy history and to hear the manner of the cutting off of thy thumbs, and the reason of thy washing both hands one hundred and twenty times." Know then, said he, that my father was chief of the merchants and the wealthiest of them all in Baghdad city during the reign of the Caliph Harun al Rashid; and he was much given to wine drinking and listening to the lute and the other instruments of pleasaunce; so that when he died he left nothing. ”

“ And thereafter Khalifah continued to pay frequent visits to the Caliph Harun al-Rashid, with whom he found acceptance and who ceased not to overwhelm him with boons and bounty: and he abode in the enjoyment of the utmost honour and happiness and joy and gladness and in riches more than sufficing and in rank ever rising ”

“ When I have followed it, if Allah grant me recovery, I will give thee a slave-girl, who shall serve thee in they lifetime a service, wherewith Allah shall cut short thy term; and when thou diest and the Lord hurrieth thy soul to hell-fire, she shall blacken thy face with her skite, of her mourning for thee, and shall keen and beat her face, saying O frosty-beard, what a fool thou wast?'" [FN#143] thereupon Harun al-Rashid laughed till he fell backward, and ordered the Badawi three thousand silver pieces. ”

“ Depending on coloured tiles and gorgeous fabrics for their rich effects, nothing of the buildings of the times of Harun al-Rashid or Mamun, once counted so magnificent, have come down to us. All have perished in the numerous sieges and inundations which have devastated the city.
With the rise of the Turkish body-guard under Mamun's successor, Mo‛tassim, began the downfall of the Abbasid dynasty, and with it of the Abbasid capital, Bagdad. ”

“ He then kissed the hem of the Caliph's robe and kept silence; and Harun al-Rashid, perceiving that he had said all his say, exclaimed, "In very sooth thy story is exceeding strange and rare. The wrong doing of thy wife hath no excuse and thy requital is methinks in due measure and just degree, but I would ask thee one thing—How long wilt thou chastise her thus, and how long will she remain in bestial guise? 'Twere better now for thee to seek the young lady by whose magical skill thy wife was transformed and beg that she bring her back to human shape. ”

“ The caliphs Harun al-Rashid (786-809) and al-Mamun (813-833) were famous throughout the world for their wealth, their splendor, and their munificence. But the martial vigor of the Arabs was sapped by the influence of Persian luxury, and they gradually ceased to be relied upon for military service. ”

“ Now there was a man of the kinsfolk of the Caliph Harun al-Rashid, by name Abd al-Malik bin Salih260 bin Ali bin Abdallah bin al-Abbas,261 who was great of gravity and sedateness, piety and propriety, and Al- Rashid used instantly to require that he should company him in converse and carouse and drink with him and had offered him to such end abounding wealth, but he never would. ”

“ The family prospered, and his grandson Yaḥyā b. Khalid was the vizier of the caliph Mahdi and tutor of Harūn al-Rashid. His sons Fadl and Ja‛far (the Giafar of the Arabian Nights) both occupied high offices under Harūn. The story of their disgrace, though romantic, is not improbable. Harūn, it is said, found his chief pleasure in the society of his sister ‛Abbāsa and Ja‛far, and in order that these two might be with him continuously without breach of etiquette, persuaded them to contract a purely formal marriage. ”

“ But it seems equally certain that the 'Nights' did not originate altogether in the land of the Nile. The figure of Harun al-Rashid, the many doings in the "City of Peace" (Bagdad) , lead us irresistibly over to the Eastern capital of the Muhammadan Empire. The genii and Afrits and much of the gorgeous picturing remind one of Persia, or at least of Persian influence. The Arabs were largely indebted to Persia for literature of a kind like this; and we know that during the ninth and tenth centuries many books were translated from the Pahlavi and Syriac. ”

“ The western portion of the country formed a part of the Roman Empire; while that on the east, comprising by far the largest and most populous area, was subject to the caliphs at Baghdad. The span of this single century is sufficient to include the full splendour and the decay and incipient disruption of the caliphate. At its commencement Harun-al-Rashid (786–809) was real master of vast dominions—a personality round which the romance of the age collected to adorn the literature of all times. ”

“ The true history of the Caliph Harun Al Rashid relates that toward the end of his reign he wearied of philanthropy, and caused to be beheaded all his former favorites and companions of his “Arabian Nights” rambles. Happy are we in these days of enlightenment, when the only death warrant the caliphs can serve on us is in the form of a tradesman’s bill.
XVIII
THE GIRL AND THE HABIT HABIT—a tendency or aptitude acquired by custom or frequent repetition.
The critics have assailed every source of inspiration save one. To that one we are driven for our moral theme. ”

“ Nor did she cease from so doing for a length of time until suddenly she overheard folk saying, "Our Kazi hath borne a babe." And such bruit spread abroad and was reported in sundry cities, nor ceased the rumour ere it reached the ears of the Caliph Harun al-Rashid in Baghdad city. Now hearing it he marvelled and cried, "Extolled be Allah! this hap, by the Lord, never can have happened save at the hand of some woman, a wise and a clever at contrivance ”

“ Popular favor they seem never to have enjoyed. As the Umayyads grew weak, they became more stiff in their orthodoxy; but with the Abbasids, and especially with al-Mansur, thought was again free. As has been shown above, encouragement of science and research was part of the plan of that great man, and he easily saw that the intellectual hope of the future was with these theological and philosophical questioners. So their work went slowly on, with a break under Harun ar-Rashid, a magnificent but highly orthodox monarch, who understood no trifling with things of the faith. ”

“ Now after some time Al-Rashid asked from Manjab a tale concerning the wiles of womankind, and when the youth hung his head groundwards and blushed before him, Harun said to him, "O Manjab, verily the place of the Kings in privacy is also the place for laying aside gravity." Said Manjab, "O Prince of True Believers, to-morrow night (Inshallah!) I will tell thee a tale in brief concerning the freaks of the gender feminine, and what things they do with their mates." ”

“ Al-Akhtal belonged to a Christian tribe of Arabs, and was much patronized by the Omaiyide Khalif Abdul Malik (A.D. 684-705) , in whose glory and honour he composed many verses, and, indeed, such good ones, that Harun-ar-Rashid used to say no poet had ever said so much in praise of the Abbasides as he (Akhtal) had written in praise of the Omaiyides. He died at an advanced age some years before Jarir and Farazdak, who were much younger men, but the exact year of his death does not appear to have been recorded. ”

“ Though you are her enemy, she admires you as a soldier.”
These flattering words were pleasing to Harun. He walked to and fro in front of his tent and then spoke again to the ambassadors.
“Tell the Empress,” he said, “that I will spare Constantinople if she will pay me seventy thousand pieces of gold as a yearly tribute. If the tribute is regularly paid Constantinople shall not be harmed by any Moslem force.”
The Empress had to agree to these terms. She paid the first year’s tribute; and soon the great Moslem army set out on its homeward march. ”

“ Aḥmad ibn-al-Ḥârith al-Wâsiṭi from al-Wâḳidi:—In the year 180, ar-Rashîd ordered that the city of ʿAin Zarbah [Anazarbus] be built and fortified. He summoned to it a regiment from Khurâsân and others, to whom he gave houses as fiefs. In the year 183, he ordered al-Hârûnîyah built. It was accordingly built and manned with a garrison and with volunteers that emigrated to it. The city was named after him. Others say that Hârûn started its erection in the caliphate of al-Mahdi, but completed it in his own caliphate. ”

“ Ar-Rashîd writes them a favorable statement. Abu-Masʿûd said, "When ar-Rashîd Hârûn became caliph and started for al-Kûfah on his way to the Pilgrimage, they brought their case before him and complained of the harsh treatment of the ʿâmils. ”

“ So I went my way dejected, and wandered as a mendicant, ever on and on towards Baghdad, the Abode of Peace, resolved to seek the Khalifeh of the Lord of all Creatures and set my case before him.
“Verily,” exclaimed Harun-er-Rashid as the Third Royal Calender retired to his place, “this is the most astounding tale of all. Hear me now, all of you. These men have suffered greatly, but Fate hath no further trouble in store for them. By Allah! my armies are great, and I will restore each to his throne. ”