The fall of the Barmakids

The less pleasant aspects of Hārūn’s character are highlighted by the fall of the Barmakids, who for more than 16 years had been mainly responsible for the administration of the empire and who had provided the money for the luxury and extravagance of the court. Moreover, Jaʿfar the Barmakid had become Hārūn’s special friend, so that gossip spoke of a homosexual relationship. Gossip also alleged that Hārūn had arranged that Jaʿfar should secretly marry his sister ʿAbbāsah, on condition that he did not consummate the marriage, but Jaʿfar fell in love with her, and she had a child. Whether in anger at this or not, Hārūn had Jaʿfar executed on Jan. 29, 803. The other members of the family were imprisoned and their goods confiscated. Modern historians reject this gossip and instead suggest that Hārūn felt dominated by the Barmakids and may even have coveted their wealth. Moreover, diverse interests within the empire were being attracted to two opposing poles. On the one side were the “secretaries,” or civil servants, many Persians, and many men from the eastern provinces; on the other side were the religious scholars (ʿulamāʾ), many Arabs, and many from the western provinces. Since the Barmakids favoured the first group of interests and the new vizier, al-Faḍl ibn al-Rabīʿ, favoured the second, it is likely that this political cleavage was involved in the change of ministry.

The struggle between the two groups of interests continued for at least half a century. Hārūn recognized its existence by assigning Iraq and the western provinces to his son al-Amīn, the heir apparent, and the eastern provinces to the second in succession, his son al-Maʾmūn. The former was son of the Arab princess Zubaydah and after 803 had al-Faḍl ibn al-Rabīʿ as tutor. Al-Maʾmūn was son of a Persian slave girl and after 803 had as tutor a Barmakid protégé, al-Faḍl ibn Sahl. Hārūn has been criticized for so dividing the empire and contributing to its disintegration, for there was war between his two sons after his death; but it may well be that by making the cleavage manifest, he contributed to its eventual resolution after 850.

As vizier, al-Faḍl ibn al-Rabīʿ lacked the efficiency of the Barmakids, and Hārūn’s personal decisions may have had more weight. There were further successful operations against the Byzantine Empire, but in the autumn of 808, while on his way to deal personally with a serious two-year-old revolt in Khorāsān (in Iran), Hārūn fell ill at Ṭūs (near modern Meshed) and died there several months later. Al-Amīn succeeded him as caliph.

Hārūn was neither a great ruler nor a man of prepossessing character, though he was a lavish patron of the arts. He owes his fame to the wealth and luxury of his court, surpassing anything previously known, and to his place in Arabic legend.