Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 16.djvu/609

Rh ABBASIDS.] MOHAMMEDANISM 581 pitched his camp on the shores of the Bosphorus. Irene took alarm, sued for peace, and obtained it, but on humiliating conditions. This brilliant success increased Mahdi s affection for HArun to such an extent that he resolved, a few years later, to declare him his successor instead of MusA. It was necessary first to obtain from MusA a renunciation of his rights ; and for this purpose his father recalled him from JorjAn, where he was then engaged on an expedition against the rebels of TabaristAn. MusA, who had had information of his father s intentions, refused to obey this order. Mahdi determined to march in person against his rebellious son (A.H. 169), and set out, accompanied by HArun. But, after his arrival at MAsabadhAn, a place in Persian Iralj: or Jabal, the Caliph died suddenly, at the age of only forty-three. There are two versions of the cause of his death : some attribute it to an accident met with in hunting ; others believe him to have been poisoned. If this was really the case, although we have no proofs against Musa, we may reasonably sus pect him of having been privy to the sudden death of his father. Hadi. 4. Mahdi having died before he could carry out his plan for assuring the throne to HArun, the succession natur ally fell to MusA, and he was proclaimed Caliph at BaghdAd in the year of his father s death. He took the title of HAdi (He who directs). HArun made no opposition to the accession of his brother, and the army which had accom panied Mahdi returned peacefully from Jabal to BaghdAd. The accession of a new Caliph doubtless appeared to the partisans of the house of All a favourable opportunity for a rising. Hosain b. All, a descendant of that Hasan who had formerly renounced his pretensions to the Caliphate through fear of Mo Awiya I., raised an insurrection at Medina with the support of numerous adherents, and had himself proclaimed Caliph. But having unfortunately conceived the idea of going on pilgrimage to Mecca, he was attacked at Fakh by a party of AbbAsids, and perished in the combat. His cousin Idrfs b. AbdallAh succeeded in escaping and fled to Egypt, whence he passed into Morocco ; and there, at a later period, his son founded the Idrfsite dynasty. HAdi, as may be supposed, had never been able to forget that he had narrowly escaped being supplanted by his brother. He formed a plan for excluding HAriin from the Caliphate, and transmitting the succession to his own son Ja far. He neglected no possible means of attaining this object, and obtained the assent of his ministers, and of the principal chiefs of his army, who took the oath of allegiance to Ja far. Only YahyA b. KhAlid the Barmecide, HArun s former tutor, absolutely refused to betray the interests of his pupil. In a discussion which took place between him and the Caliph on this subject, YahyA showed such firm ness and boldness that HAdi resolved on his death, and Harthama b. A yan, one of the bravest generals of the empire, had already received the order to go and take his head, when the Caliph died suddenly. One of those terrible domestic dramas had been acted of which so many were afterwards seen in the palace of the Caliphs. The mother of HAdi and HArun was KhaizorAn, a haughty and intriguing woman, whose aim it was to get the direction of affairs into her own hands, leaving HAdi only the shadow of power. Her influence over all matters of government was so well understood that her door was beset all day by a crowd of petitioners, who neglected the Caliph and pref erred to address their requests to her. HAdi soon became indignant at the subordinate part which his mother wished him to play, and after a dispute on the matter, he attempted to poison her. KhaizorAn, hoping to find a more submissive instrument of her will in her second son, and wishing to protect herself against fresh attempts at murder, caused HAdi to be taken unawares and smothered with cushions by two young slaves whom she had presented to him. (Uabf I., A.H. 170 Sept A.D. 786.) 5. We have now reached the most celebrated nameHanin among the Arabian Caliphs, celebrated not only in the al K ^- East, but in the West as well, where the stories of the 8hW&amp;gt; Thousand and One Nights have made us familiar with that world which the narrators have been pleased to represent to us in such brilliant colours. On the unexpected death of HAdi, the generals and ministers who had declared against HAriin, perceiving that popular favour did not incline to the son of the late Caliph, hastened to rally round the son of KhaizorAn ; and HArun, surnamed Al-Rashld (The Upright), ascended the throne without opposition. His first act was to choose as prime minister his former tutor, the faithful YahyA b. KhAlid, and to confide important posts to the two sons of YahyA, Fadl and Ja far, the former of whom was also his own foster-brother. The Barmecide family were endued in the highest degree with those qualities of generosity and liberality which the Arabs prized so highly. Thus the chroniclers are never wearied in their praises of the Barmecides. Loaded with all the burdens of government, YahyA brought the most distinguished abilities to the exercise of his office. He put the frontiers in a state of defence, and supplied all that was wanting for their security. He filled the public treasury, and carried the splendour of the throne to the highest point. Thu following anecdote will show what an amount of earnest affection the Barmecide family succeeded in winning : After Harun, as we shall relate farther on, had ruined the Barmecides of whose influence lie was jealous, he forbade the poets to compose elegies on the disgrace of the family, and commanded that all who disobeyed this order should be punished. One day, as one of the soldiers of the Caliph s guard was passing near a ruined building, he perceived a man holding a paper in his hand, and reciting aloud, and with many tears, a lament over the ruin of the palace of the Barmecides. The soldier arrested the man and led him to the palace of the Caliph, who ordered the culprit to be brought before him, and asked him why he had infringed his orders. &quot; Prince,&quot; replied the man, &quot;let me relate my history to thee ; when thou hast heard it, do with me as thou wilt. I was an inferior clerk under Yahya b. Khalid. He said to me one clay : Thou must invite me to thy house. My lord, I replied, I am quite unworthy of such an honour, and my house is not fit to receive thee. No, said Yahya, thou must absolutely do what I require of thee. In that case, answered I, grant me some little delay that I may make suitable arrangements. Yahya granted me some months. As soon as I informed him that I was ready, he repaired to my abode, accompanied by his two sons, Fadl and Ja far, and by some of his most intimate friends. Scarcely had lie dismounted from his horse when he begged me to give him some thing to eat. I offered him some roastedchickens. When he had eaten his fill, he went over the whole of my house, and having seen it all, he asked me to show him the buildings attached to it. My lord, said I, thou hast seen everything. No, said he, thou hast another house. In vain I assured him that I had but one ; he persisted in his assertion, and, sending for a mason, ordered him to make an opening in the wall. My lord, said I, may I venture thus to make my way into my neighbour s house ? It matters not, replied he. When a doorway had been opened, he passed through it, followed by his two sons, and I went after him. We entered a delightful garden, well planted and watered by fountains. In this garden stood a beautiful house with pavilions adorned with furniture and carpets, and filled with slaves of both sexes, all of perfect beauty. All this is thine, said Yahya to me. I kissed his hands and poured out my thanks to him ; and then I learned that on the very day when he had spoken to me of inviting him he had bought the land adjoining to my house, and had had it laid out for me without my ever suspecting it. I had certainly noticed that building was going on, but I was far from imagining that all this was intended for me. Yahya next addressed himself to Ja far and said : Here are certainly a house and servants, but who will provide for their support? I, replied Ja far, will give him a farm and its dependencies, and will send him the deed of gift. Very well, continued Yahya; but how is he to live until he shall receive the revenue of his property ! I owe him a thousand pieces of gold, said Fadl, and I will send them to his