ABBASIDES. 



ABBASIDES. 



been predicted that danger menaced the life of the Shah. He made 

 Isfahan the capital of the empire, and embellished that town by magni- 

 ficent gardens and palaces. He favoured commerce, and rendered 

 the communications in the interior easier by caravanserais and high- 

 ways. 



(Malcolm, History of Pertia.) 



ABBASIDES. The name of this family of sovereigns is derived 

 rom their ancestor, Abbas ben Abd-al-Motalleb, a paternal uncle of 

 the Arabian prophet Mohammed. On account of their descent from 

 so near a relation of the prophet, the Abbaaides had, ever since the 

 introduction of the Islam, been held in very high esteem among the 

 Arabs, and had at an early period begun to excite the jealousy of the 

 Ommaiade kalifs, who, after the defeat of Ali ben Abi-Taleb, the son- 

 in-law of Mohammed (A.D. 661), occupied the throne of the Arabian 

 empire. The Abbaaides had already for some time asserted their claims 

 to the kalifat, in preference to the reiguing family, when, hi 746, they 

 formed a strong party, and commenced open hostilities against the 

 government of the Ommaiades in the province of Khorasau. Three 

 years afterwards (749) the Abbaside Abul-Abbas Abdallah ben Moham- 

 med, surnatned Al-Saffah, or 'the bloodhedder,' was recognised as 

 kalif at Kufa. A battle on the banks of the river Zab, not far from 

 Mosul (in the same neighbourhood where, more than a thousand years 

 before, the battle of Gaugamela had made Alexander master of the 

 Persian empire), decided (Jan. 750) the ruin of the Ommaiades. 

 Merwan II., the last kalif of that lineage, fled before the advancing 

 forces of Al-Saffah from Mosul to Emesa, thence to Damascus, and 

 finally to Egypt, where he was overtaken and killed. So great was the 

 hatred of the victorious party against the vanquished royal family, 

 that not less than ninety Ommaiades were doomed to a cruel and igno- 

 minious death, while even the remains of those that were already dead 

 were t;iken out of their tombs, and publicly insulted. A survivor of 

 the fallen dynasty, Abd-alrahman, a grandson of the kalif Hesham, 

 escaped to Spain, the westernmost province of the Arabian empire. 

 There his name prqcured him a favourable reception ; he was saluted 

 as king, and an Ommaiade lineage continued to reign for nearly three 

 centuries (756-1031) over the eight Mohammedan provinces of Spain. 



Al-Saffah died in 753, and was succeeded in the kalifat by his 

 brother Al-Mansur (753-774), who removed the seat of government 

 from Damascus to the new-built city of Baghdad. He was successful 

 in wars with the Turcomans, and with the Grecian empire in Asia 

 Minor ; but the internal tranquillity of hia reign was often disturbed 

 by insurrections in the distant provinces. In the reign of his son, 

 Mohdi (774-784), a Mohammedan army, under the command of the 

 youthful Harun-al-Rashid, penetrated the Grecian provinces of Lesser 

 Asia as far as the Hellespont. During the short reign of Mohdi's SOD, 

 Hadi (784-786), an attempt at an overthrow of the Abbaside dominion 

 was made at Medina by Hossein, a descendant of Ali ben Abi-Taleb. 



Hadi was followed by the celebrated Hanm-al-Kashid, a grandson 

 of Al-Mansur, whose early military exploit* have already been alluded 

 to. When called to the throne, he soon displayed a love of justice and 

 peace, and a zeal for literature and the arts, which corresponded to his 

 valour as a military commander. He opened friendly communications 

 with Charlemagne ; the presents which he sent him (among others a 

 curious sort of clock, a description of which is given by Eginhard), 

 while they show the regard which he entertained for his great Euro- 

 pean contemporary, afford at the same time an illustration of the 

 progress which the mechanical arts must at that time have made 

 among the Arabs. In conducting the internal affairs of his empire, 

 Harun was chiefly guided by his two ministers, Yahya and Jafar, of 

 the ancient Persian family of the Barmekides, whose ancestors had 

 through many generations, previous to the introduction of the Islam, 

 held the hereditary office of priests at the fire-temple of Balkh. But 

 the high degree of popularity which the Bannckides enjoyed aroused 

 Harun's jealousy, and the rashness and cruelty with which he indulged 

 himself in his suspicion by putting to death not only the two ministers, 

 but almost all their relations, form an odious exception to the praise 

 of mildness and equity with which his memory is honoured by eastern 

 chronicle. The epoch of his reign has, in the remembrance of 

 Mohammedan nations, become the golden age of their dominion. The 

 wealth and the adopted luxury of the conquered nations had given to 

 social life that refinement, and to the court of Baghdad that splendour, 

 of which such lively pictures are exhibited in many of the tales of 

 the ' Arabian Nights." Flourishing towns sprung up in every part of 

 the empire; traffic by land and by sea increased with the luxury of 

 the wealthy classes; and Baghdad rivalled even Constantinople in 

 magnificence. 



To wage war against the infidels was with the Arabs a matter of 

 religion and of faith ; as soon therefore as a conquered nation embraced 

 the Mohammedan belief, it was no longer regarded as siftject to the 

 victors, but was raised to an equality with them, and formed an 

 integral part of the same body. The different elements of the empire 

 were thus held together by the tie of a common religion, and the 

 laniruage of the Koran (which the Mahommedans have always deemed 

 it unlawful to profane by translations) became the medium of commu- 

 nication for the nations from the banks of the Indus to those of the 

 Tagus and the Ebro. The supreme pontificate and the secular sove- 

 reignty, the two elements whose conflict forms the prominent feature 

 in the history of the Christian world during the middle ages, were in 



the Mohammedan empire united in the person of the kalif, who, 

 invested with the mantle, signet, and staff of the Prophet, and bearing 

 the title of Emir-al-Mumenin (that is, Commander of the Faithful), 

 wielded the supreme spiritual and temporal rule without any other 

 restriction or control besides the ordinances of the established religion. 

 The only formal recognition of the sovereignty of the kallfs (and sub- 

 sequently of all other independent Mohammedan princes) was the 

 prerogative of having the money of the state stamped with their name, 

 and of having their name also introduced into the public prayers at 

 the mosques. According to the ancient Persian plan, the several pro- 

 vinces of the empire were governed by delegates, with military and 

 administrative powers. But this system soon proved fatal to the 

 kalifat ; for the lieutenants in the distant parts of the empire would 

 often revolt, and aspire to independent authority. On an expedition 

 to Khorasan, undertaken against such a disloyal satrap, Haruu died 

 at Tus, in 808. 



The throue was for some years contested between his two sons, 

 Amin and Mamun ; but in 813 Mamun came to the sole and undis- 

 puted possession of it. His reign (813-833) forms an important epoch 

 in the history of science and literature, the cultivation of which was 

 conspicuously patronised by that kalif. The Arabs were avowed bor- 

 rowers in science ; they were chiefly indebted to the Hindoos and the 

 Greeks; and even what they received from these nations seems often 

 to have exceeded their comprehension. Their claims to originality of 

 invention, and to the merit of having made real additions to the stock 

 of our knowledge, are not great ; but they are entitled to our gratitude 

 for having kept alive and diffused tho light of letters, and for having 

 preserved a sort of scientific tradition from classical antiquity, during 

 an age when science and literature in Europe lay buried under ignor- 

 ance and barbarism. Mamun founded colleges and libraries in the 

 principal towns of his dominions, such as Baghdad, Bassora, Kufa, and 

 Nishabur. Syrian physicians, and Hindoo mathematicians and astro- 

 nomers, lived at his court; and works on astronomy, mathematics, 

 metaphysics, natural philosophy, and medicine, were translated from 

 the Sanscrit and Greek into Arabic. Mamun took personally a parti- 

 cular interest in astronomy. He built observatories, had accurate 

 instruments constructed, improved by their means the astronomical 

 tables, and caused a degree of the meridian to be measured in the 

 sandy desert between Palmyra and Kacca oa the Euphrates. At his 

 command, Mohainmed-ben-Musa wrote an elementary treatise on 

 algebra, the earliest systematic work extant on that branch of mathe- 

 matics, for their knowledge of which, as well as for much of their 

 astronomy, the Arabs seem to be chiefly indebted to the Hindoos. 

 The investigation of the structure of their own language, and the 

 systematic development of the Mobammedaq theology and jurispru- 

 dence, both founded chiefly on the Koran, afforded an opportunity of 

 applying practically the principles of the Aristotelian philosophy. 



The period of prosperity which the Arabian empire enjoyed under 

 Harun-al-Rasbid and Mamun was only of short duration. The chival- 

 rous enthusiasm with which Mohammed had inspired his nation became 

 soon extinguished under voluptuousness and love of enjoyment. Many 

 provinces in the west (Spain, Fez, and Tunis) had already shaken off 

 their allegiance to the kalifat, and the attachment of others in the East 

 was likewise doubtful. From the north the empire was threatened 

 by the Turks, some tribes of whom had been compelled to adopt the 

 Mohammedan religion. Turkish youths were soon brought as merce- 

 naries to Baghdad, and Motasem (833-842), the brother and successor 

 of Mamun, formed of them a body-guard, which, under the reign of 

 Vathek (842-846), Motawakkel (846-861), and Montaser (861, 862), 

 became to the kalifat what the pnetorian guards had been under 

 the Roman emperors. Mostai'n (862-866) was obliged to concede to 

 them the privilege of electing their own commander, and thus lost 

 much of his authority at home, while the provinces of his empire were 

 infested by invasions from the Greeks. Under his successor, Motaz 

 (866-868), a native of Sejestan, Yakub-al-Laith, surnamed Al-Soffar 

 (that is, the brazier), made himself master of Khorasan, Kerman, Persia 

 proper, and Khuzistan, and united these provinces into an independent 

 kingdom, with Nishabur for its capital, which continued in the posses- 

 sion of his family (the Soffarides) till 917. 



The successors of Motaz were Mohtadi (868, 869), Motamed (869- 

 892), Motadhed (892-902), Moktafi (902-907), Moktader (907-932), and 

 Kahir (932-934). Under the reign of Radhi (934-940) the disorder of 

 the empire had reached such a height, that the kalif, in order to 

 restore public order and tranquillity, was obliged to call Mohammed- 

 ben-Rayek, the governor of Wasith, to Baghdad, and to confide to him, 

 with the title of Emir-al-Omara, or Commander of the Commanders, 

 an almost unlimited authority in the government. From this timo 

 the kalifat became a mere nominal dignity; all the efficient power was 

 in the hands of tho mighty Emirs-al-Omara. After the short reign of 

 Mottaki (940-943), Mostakfi (943, 944) came to the kalifat; but he was 

 soon dethroned by Moizzeddaula the Buide (properly Bawaihide), 

 who, in concert with his two brothers, had rendered himself master 

 of a great part of Persia and Irak. Moizzeddaula conferred the kalifat, 

 now limited to the mere pontifical dignity and to tho possession of tho 

 town of Baghdad, on Mothi Lilian (946-973), and reserved to himself 

 the powerful office of Emir-al-Omara, which continued hereditary in 

 his family during the kalifat of Tayi-lillah (973-991), and Kadir-billah 

 (991-1031), till the year 1056, when, in the kalifat of Kaim-b'iamr-illah 



